NEWS

November 21, 2024

Cointelegraph: Former House speaker warns partisan gridlock could derail Trump’s crypto plans

Former Speaker for the United States House of Representatives Paul Ryan took the stage at the North American Blockchain Summit in Texas on Nov. 20 for an interview with former White House Security Adviser Faryar Shirzad.

While the conversation touched on a variety of political topics, its central theme concerned what the impending Donald Trump administration must do to overcome party-line partisanship in order to enact his agenda…

Ryan, the House speaker from 2015 through 2019, offered his full-throated support for the Trump administration despite admitting that the two “don’t really get along well” during the interview.

“I want him to succeed,” said Ryan, adding that Trump’s election was “a really impressive victory.”

“I mean, it was probably one of the best political combats in the history of our country. I'm one of those people who tells my friends, ‘Go help him, go serve in this administration.’ Help these guys succeed because if Trump succeeds, America succeeds.”

However, when it comes to passing legislation in a timely manner, Ryan warned that even with Republican control over the executive branch, Senate and House, the “razor thin” majority could slow the Trump train down much like the divided Congress did in his previous attempts at radical government restructure.

“Never forget that these things take 60 votes,” warned Ryan, continuing, “Whether they get the CFTC thing done in the Farm Bill now, we’ll see. That’s probably an easier lift for everybody. […] You’re gonna have much better legislation soon, but it does take 60 votes.”

“It will require bipartisanship,” he added, pointing out that while Republicans may “hold the gavels,” crypto policy reform will require those “60 votes,” referring to the number of representatives who must support a bill for its passage in the House.

Ryan landed on a positive note, offering praise for Trump’s cabinet appointees to date. “In this particular case, with Web3, with crypto, with stablecoins,” said Ryan, “I see nothing but a good future here.”

CoinTelegraph / Read More

November 14, 2024

Teneo Insights Podcast: Unpacking President Trump’s Agenda with Paul Ryan and Trey Gowdy

In a wide-ranging interview on the Teneo Insights podcast, former Speaker of the House and Teneo Vice Chairman Paul Ryan joined host Kevin Kajiwara and former Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) for a discussion on the 2024 elections, the policy implications for 2025, and how the incoming Trump Administration will handle geopolitical and economic issues in its first 100 days. 

The podcast is accessible here and excerpts of Speaker Ryan’s remarks follow. 

On the takeaways from the 2024 election: 

“I think the Democrats are going to have to go through a lot of soul searching… I think they ignited a culture war which ended up becoming a bear trap that they set for themselves, that they walked into and couldn’t get out of, and they set themselves so far apart from mainstream Americans.

In addition to that, two issues were spectacular failures for them: Inflation and the economy and the border, which was basically ungovernable. This created a perfect witch's brew [and Democrats] had a real thumping.

They stepped on the wrong side of a culture war with the country, and it blew back on them. I think that explains a lot of the big demographic vote counts that Donald Trump got from the middle class, from the forgotten men and women of America, and that lower-income voter is a Republican voter now.

You also combine that with a lot of traditional Republicans, including suburbanites where Donald Trump outperformed his 2020 numbers almost in every category, and that's a comprehensive victory for him personally. It’s a resurrection, like Trey said, but also a thorough defeat for what the Democrats are offering the public these days.”

On not misreading the mandate, as President Biden did: 

“I think the mistake that could be made, but that I hope is not made, is that the [Trump Administration] makes the Biden mistake, which is, they think they have a giant mandate and they operate as if they did get one, but they do so with razor-thin majorities in Congress that can't function on a mandate like that. 

Joe Biden said he was like FDR and LBJ times two, as if [he had] a massive mandate, but he had a razor thin majority in the Senate and in the House and he couldn't deliver on that mandate. And so, he [eventually] scaled his agenda back but more importantly, he over-reached and he got brushed back. That's where I think [Republicans] could make the same mistake, which is, thinking we have big majorities when they are actually very small majorities.

And so, I think you have to bank wins on kitchen table issues like getting the border under control and getting the economy and economic growth back on track in a faster way. [Republicans should get] the blocking and tackling done. They should get those basic things done that are popular and that people expect us to do, and we should be careful about overreaching because you're going to push these razor-thin majorities too far and they probably will break.” 

On pulling members from the House to the Trump Administration’s Cabinet: 

“It’s going to be a narrow majority in the House, anywhere from a four- to seven-seat majority, like we have now, so the one thing you have to watch is the margin….

It will be months before you fill that vacancy and if you’re doing reconciliation, which is a tight, tough vote to begin with, and then you have a tax bill, which is a tight, tough vote, you have to be really careful with these margins. I think they should be a little bit cautious about this. 

I mean, I think these are good picks. I’m glad for Elise. I think this [UN post] is in her interest. Elise loves foreign policy. It’s her first love in terms of policy. She’s a policy wonk and she’s been thinking about this for some time.

Mike Waltz is a very cerebral and smart, Department of Defense, national security-focused thinker. So, he’s picking good people from the House, but I wouldn’t pick any more because you’re going to make Mike Johnson’s very difficult job almost impossible.” 

On immediate spending challenges facing Congress: 

“The question is, how long do they want to kick that Continuing Resolution (CR) on to? 

There will be a school of thought that says: Let’s get all the way to the end of the fiscal year and clean our decks, because it's going to be too hard. The problem is that CR’s really hurt the Pentagon.

You can make a case that domestic agencies can enjoy a Continuing Resolution, which would be a Biden-written Continuing Resolution or a Biden-government CR, which has its own faults from a Republican standpoint, but the longer the Continuing Resolution, the more restrictive it is on the Pentagon’s ability to adapt to the battle space they have, and they have a huge adoption of new technologies that they need to embrace and they want to embrace but they need the budget authority to do that, and they can't go do it with a year-old budget authority. 

So, the question is: How long do they pump the CR into the next year? Is it January, February, or September?

There'll be a big debate about that but remember, everything has to have Democrats’ consent to move, which means [you need] 60 votes. Everything that's going through in the lame duck will require 60 votes from the Democrats. You know that Democrats have to help provide votes and clearly Trump is going to have a say. He’ll likely say: “I want this out of my way, or I want this for when I'm in office,” so he's going to have a huge impact on this.”

On potential pressure being applied to the Federal Reserve’s independence: 

“I'm not worried about [pressure on the Federal Reserve’s independence] because again, it’s 60 votes. You would have to rewrite the Humphrey-Hawkins law, which guides the Federal Reserve, and that requires 60 votes, so that's not going to happen. 

Will Donald Trump jawbone on the Fed? Of course he will. He did that to Jay Powell all the time before. 

Jay’s response to that is kind of a shoulder shrug. 

So no, I'm not worried about the independence of the Federal Reserve being corrupted because truly, to do what they do requires independence. They don't get their money from Congress. Congress can't go after them through the appropriations process…. There really isn't a way to go after them through the power of the purse or in any way other than rewriting the law that governs them and that cannot be done via reconciliation. It takes 60 votes and that ain't going to happen.”

On the regulatory climate under the Trump Administration:

“I'd say it's going to be a good Merger and Acquisition (M&A) climate because you're not going to have any Lina Khan’s and Gary Gensler's. It's going to be a light touch in terms of regulatory footprints and that's why I think private M&A and the public IPO market is going to be very fluid. I think the IPO market is going to unlock, and I think private deals are going to get done.

I think you're going to see capital flowing and far more liquid, deeper capital markets moving because [President Trump and his Administration] will take a light regulatory footprint on these things.” 

On efforts to eliminate the filibuster in the Senate:

“There are too many institutionalists in the Senate, so that’s not going to happen. John Curtis, Mitch, McConnell, Bill Cassidy, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, I can go on down the list. They're not going to get rid of the filibuster. They'll be pressured, but they're not going to get rid of the filibuster because they're institutionalists. They understand the long term.”

Teneo / More

November 14, 2024

The Dispatch: Paul Ryan Discusses the GOP: Populism, Bipartisanship, & Economic Reform

Earlier this week, at The Dispatch's “What's Next? Conference” in Washington, DC, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan talked with Jonah Goldberg about the 2024 election, President Donald Trump’s initial Cabinet nominees, and the fiscal and economic issues facing the incoming Trump Administration. 

In the conversation, accessible below, Ryan and Goldberg discuss the pitfalls and peaks of Trump’s economic plans, why incumbent parties continue to lose, how to solve the debt crisis, and the fame game in Congress. Later in the show, Jonah and Paul debate the durability of American institutions, consider Trump’s proposed Cabinet appointments, and determine how Reaganite conservatives can walk the line between supporting good policy and descending into MAGAness.

The Dispatch / More 

November 5, 2024

Op-Ed: Stablecoins Can Defend the Dollar’s Global Status

In an op-ed published at Project Syndicate, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan makes the case for the U.S. leading the way in digital finance and for preserving the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency. The full op-ed is accessible here and an excerpt follows.

“The dollar has reigned supreme for nearly a century because it is backed by a well-established rule of law, a large and powerful military, and a dynamic economy. But US policymakers cannot afford to sit idly while the world changes. Pound sterling was once the dominant currency for international trade and foreign reserves – until it wasn’t. If the greenback is to avoid the same fate, American leaders must recognize that the US financial system is no longer fit for purpose. As our lives and economies become increasingly digitalized, so, too must the dollar.

“The main challenge for US officials is to update the global financial architecture in a way that ensures the dollar’s continued use as an instrument for promoting economic freedom globally. The solution lies in a central pillar of American soft power: technological innovation. In other words, a payments system built by private industry in the US is better than one built by the PBOC using Chinese technology. In addition to getting America’s fiscal house in order, policymakers should support entrepreneurs issuing stablecoins on blockchain rails.”

Project Syndicate / More

October 3, 2024

Fox News Op-Ed: Stop the insanity. Our national debt now tops $35 trillion…

In a Fox News op-ed written with the American Enterprise Institute’s Matt Weidinger, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan detailed his concerns over Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s desire to increase America’s $35 trillion debt, with little consideration given as to how to pay for it.

The op-ed is accessible here and some excerpts follow.  

America’s political leaders have a spending problem. 

They know entitlement programs feature benefit promises far exceeding their tax base, but have done nothing to make them sound. Meanwhile, both parties demand more spending increases — despite the national debt soaring to $35 trillion, or more than $100,000 for each American, rich and poor alike. Under rosy assumptions, over $20 trillion in debt is projected to be added over the next decade.  

Yet despite the foreboding outlook, the major presidential campaigns have no plan to deal with current structural deficits and are outbidding each other to make them worse. For them, the buck stops elsewhere. That may be good short-run politics, but it will only make the inevitable bill bigger and even harder for everyday Americans to pay…. 

***

Yet despite expressing concerns about inflation, both presidential tickets propose even bigger deficits. In fact, they seem to be in a bidding war to make them worse. Former President Donald Trump proposed exempting tip income from federal taxes, and Vice President Kamala Harris quickly followed suit. Both ignored the 10-year costs of this proposal, which stretch into hundreds of billions of dollars.  

Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance suggested more than doubling today’s $2,000 child tax credit to $5,000, which Harris one-upped by proposing $6,000 payments in a child’s first year. Senator Vance hasn’t spelled out important details of his plan, but we know most of Harris’s plan comprises bigger benefit spending instead of tax relief. Both proposals would cost over $1 trillion during the next decade. 

***

Neither campaign has a plan to cover the new costs. According to the Penn Wharton Budget Model, counting their economic effects, Trump’s plans would increase deficits by $4 trillion versus Harris’s $2 trillion. But that assumes Harris doesn’t revive the massive spending plans she promoted as one of the most liberal members of the Senate. Her plans included a ruinously expensive Medicare-for-all proposal, along with $2,000-per-month stimulus checks for most Americans costing $21 trillion. If you believe a Harris administration wouldn’t revive such proposals during the next economic crisis, you haven’t paid attention to recent Washington policymaking. 

While both campaigns suggest we can have higher spending and debt alongside lower prices and interest rates, recent experience suggests otherwise. So where does the buck really stop? That is, who will ultimately pay for all this?  

The reality is every American will pay, especially those with modest incomes and younger Americans who will suffer the longest from higher taxes, inflation and interest rates. We should demand more from our leaders than promises of bigger giveaways, followed by empty handwringing about the soaring debt and financial pain that inevitably result.     

Fox News / More

July 10, 2024

Milwaukee Magazine: Q&A: Ahead of the RNC, a Conversation with Paul Ryan

In a 30-minute interview with Milwaukee Magazine in late May, Ryan shared his views on Trump’s rematch with President Joe Biden, the state of the GOP, national affairs and his personal contacts with Trump.

MM: You said more than a year ago that you would not attend the Republican National Convention if Trump is the nominee, and you’ve said that character is too important to you to vote for Trump. What does it say about America that so many voters support him?

PR: People just don’t see it the way I do, I guess. I think people are putting aside their concern with his character and they’re thinking more about inflation, crime, border issues. And they just remember when Trump was president, these problems weren’t here. With Biden being president, these problems are here. Recency bias, I think it’s just that simple. I think they’re kind of looking past the character issues and looking into the policies….

MM: Policywise, how will things be better for the country if Trump wins the election?

PR: The border thing really is a mess, it is a problem. I know three people in Janesville who died of fentanyl poisoning just last year. So, it’s a problem everywhere. And Biden fueled inflation with his COVID stimulus. He’s proposing horrible tax policy. And I think he’s got horrendous foreign policy. Afghanistan and now his treatment of Israel I think are just terrible policies. So I think you’ll have better policies coming from a Trump candidacy than you come from a Biden candidacy, no two ways about it….

MM: Do you see any scenario under which the party does not nominate Trump?

PR: No. I think there’s a better scenario there for Biden than there is one for Trump. For Biden, it’s just senility and age. If he has some really weird senior moment, which can happen to people in his condition, before the [Democratic] convention, then I can see them swapping somebody out. That’s not inconceivable to me. I don’t think it’s likely at all.

But with Trump, I don’t think so. People try to fashion a narrative of, if he’s a convicted felon that people are going to drop away their support.  I don’t buy that. I don’t think they will. I don’t see him getting swapped out or replaced at the convention. I think it’s fairly inconceivable that that would happen….

MM: Understanding that you’re not voting for Trump, what do Republicans need to do to win Wisconsin?

PR: The college-educated suburbanites are the new swing voters in Wisconsin. The rural and the urban voter are firmly encamped in blue and red. And it’s really a question of, do those people who voted for Biden the last time, thinking he was going to be a moderate, do they vote for him again this time now that he’s not a moderate? And has Trump done something that makes them like him more since 2020? Well, I don’t think he has; Jan. 6, a bunch of indictments, so I don’t think Trump’s pulled those people in his direction.

In my opinion, Biden is chasing the wrong voters. He’s chasing the progressive base. He’s chasing left wing. He’s chasing pro-Palestinian. He’s chasing left-wing policies. And he’s going to push those (swing) voters either to go to an independent third party or write-in or Trump. But if Biden pivots and it makes a compelling reason for those college-educated suburbanites who typically vote Republican to vote for him, maybe he can get them back. It’s really going to come down to that.

MM: Your differences with Biden are over policy. What are the major things he’s done wrong as president?

PR: Well, first of all, he did curate inflation. His first big stimulus package when we were coming out of COVID, clearly he just threw money at the problem and economists from the left and the right were predicting this would fuel inflation and it did exactly that. So, No. 1, he debased our currency by producing inflation because he passed a massive spending bill and then what did he do after that? Two more spending bills.

And then I think he had a disastrous pullout from Afghanistan that was very, very unfortunate. And then he decided to put ideologues in his executive agencies. Now he’s got ideologues running the SEC, running the FTC, and shutting down energy production, shutting down economic growth. So the regulatory state is very heavy, and it’s putting a drag on the economy while they’re shoving money out the door, fueling inflation.

And he’s showing our allies that, when the going gets tough, we leave. When the going gets tough in Afghanistan, we leave. When the going gets tough with our allies in Israel, he undercuts them. So it’s projecting weakness abroad.

And don’t forget the biggest mistake he’s made. I’m not like a hardcore anti-immigrant guy – I’m for legal immigration – but you’ve got to secure your border. And he could secure the border. He’s choosing not to do that – that is a policy choice he’s making. It’s a very dangerous policy choice.

He’s just giving the keys of the kingdom to the progressive left. And that’s what’s been governing his policies. I’ve known the man a long time. I personally like him. And in the past, he was more of a transactional moderate. That is not what he is today. And he just, for some reason, believed he needed to go left and he’s staying there. And if he stays there, it’s going to cost him the presidency….

Milwaukee Magazine / More

June 13, 2024

Wall Street Journal: Crypto Could Stave Off a U.S. Debt Crisis

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan outlined how stablecoins could help the United States avert a debt crisis. Ryan wrote, in part:

“The American experiment is being tested. Nowhere is this more evident than in the trajectory of the national debt. The U.S. is headed toward a predictable yet avoidable debt crisis. If nothing is done, the economy will stall while government promises of healthcare and retirement security will be broken. Cuts to national defense will put the country at risk.

With no fiscal solution in sight, the crisis is likely to start with a failed Treasury auction forcing an ugly surgery on the budget. As the economy      contracts, the dollar will suffer a major confidence shock, further imperiling prospects for growth. The        obvious answer is to deal with the root causes of the problem. Entitlement programs are driving the debt and require reform, but politicians can’t find the courage to do what needs to be done. The country thus proceeds down this perilous path. What can be done?

We might start by taking stablecoins seriously….

Their emergence as a mechanism for promoting the dollar couldn’t be timelier. The U.S. benefits from the dollar’s status as the primary international     reserve currency. Among the perks: cheap, reliable financing for fiscal spending and substantial influence over the global financial system. Most financial activities eventually flow through U.S. banks thanks to the dollar’s dominance. As the global economy becomes more digital and multipolar, the dollar’s primacy is constantly under threat….

A sound, predictable regulatory framework for stablecoins has bipartisan support in Congress and would help dramatically expand the use of digital dollars at a critical time. In an election year, given all the ugly politics to come, we sure could use a win.”

Wall Street Journal / More

May 30, 2024

Michigan Advance: Paul Ryan talks misinformation, polarization and pitfalls of Democrats and Republicans 

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) on Wednesday sat down with former Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) and talked about the impact of misinformation on foreign affairs and political polarization in Congress during the 2024 Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel….

During the panel, Ryan shared concerns about political misinformation on both sides of the aisle and the threats it poses to democracy.

“If you’re [House] speaker, or president, I think what you need to worry, right in front of you is, is the information your members are getting accurate information? Are they making decisions based on truth and reality or are they off in some rabbit hole?” Ryan said

“Democracy itself is being tested in many ways. But two key tests of our democracy, I think, are related. One from within: the polarization of our country. The fact that it’s hard for us to come together as a country, to get consensus to solve our big problems,” Ryan said. “And related to that is the fact that we have illiberal, authoritarian, tyrannical regimes like China and Russia, that are trying to take advantage of that — our openness, our freedoms — to try and drive misinformation into our country, to proliferate this polarization to make it so that we can’t get consensus and solve our big problems.”

Ryan pointed to Russian success in promoting anti-Ukraine, pro-Russia content among the American right, and Pro-Hamas, anti-Israel sentiment on the left as examples of outside actors trying to agitate the country. 

“There’s legitimate, you know, isolationism and pro-Palestinian stances but there’s agitators who are nation states that are trying to agitate our democracy and get us to tear each other apart by the seams and its a real challenge that a free society, especially the superpower free side of the world has to deal with,” Ryan said….

“I think the key thing as a leader is to make sure that you call it all out, that you do everything you can, to see this stuff developing, find out what the truth and the facts are, and then and then call it out. And you just have to design a tactic to do this, you have to have people working on making sure that when you see some weird conspiracy theory popping up in your ranks, that’s going to bleed into legislation, and form positions, you better get it in at its infancy,” Ryan said.

“If you let these things fester and go on, because you’re too afraid of taking people on, then you’re going to have a serious problem on your hands,” Ryan said….

When asked to name the best thing President Joe Biden and Trump had done in their terms as president, Ryan listed Biden’s effort to build up NATO and confront Russia, and Trump’s tax policy. He also said Trump “gave some pretty good judges,” likely referring to conservative Supreme Court justices Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.

MI Advance / More

May 22, 2024

Milwaukee Magazine: Paul Ryan: Trump’s Trials Are Strengthening His Hand

Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan, one of the most prominent Republicans nationally to break with Donald Trump, says the hush-money criminal charges against the former president are politically motivated and are making him a stronger candidate.

Speaking with Milwaukee Magazine on Tuesday, Ryan reiterated his opposition to Trump in November. In the 30-minute interview less than two months before Milwaukee hosts the Republican National Convention, Ryan also criticized pro-Palestinian campus protesters as ignorant….

Ryan said it’s “fairly inconceivable” that the presumptive GOP presidential nominee would not be nominated at the convention in July, even if he is convicted in the Stormy Daniels hush money trial, which is nearing its end.

“I’m not a Trump supporter, but I think these New York prosecutors have overreached,” Ryan said. “Those politically motivated indictments have served to make him a victim and have rallied support around him from the Republican base. And even if he gets convicted in the trial he’s in right now, I don’t think it’s going to make a difference….

Ryan said it’s unlikely but not inconceivable that Democrats nominate someone other than Biden if the president “displays a very overt senior moment” before the Democratic National Convention in August in Chicago.

“Biden’s way below his peak” in polls, “so he has more room to improve,” Ryan said. “But if he’s not showing that he’s doing it, and then he has some real problem, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Democrats make a move to swap him out.”

On the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses, where students have protested Israel’s attacks on Gaza, Ryan said, “I think there’s a lot of historical ignorance there…. “

“The amount of anti-Semitism that has been witnessed and evident in this country is really quite startling to me,” he continued. “And so I think we need to do a better job of educating our children as to the history of the world, the history of genocide, the history of the Holocaust and how the Zionist movement means the Jewish people should have a country in their homeland – and they do and they should.”

Milwaukee Magazine / More

May 11, 2024

Bloomberg TV: Ryan discusses tax, trade, economic growth, and fiscal policy

In an interview with David Westin on Bloomberg TV’s Wall Street Week, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan detailed the economic policy challenges facing America and how policymakers can tackle them.

Asked about the biggest economic challenges facing the U.S., Ryan said:

“Number one would be tax policy. What's the tax code going to look like? What's tax policy looking like in the future? Number two, I would say tariffs. Number three, I think it's reasonable to assume the next president is quite possibly going to face a debt crisis. You don't know when that is or exactly what form that takes place, but a lot of fiscal policies are on the line - tax policy, trade policy, debt policy, and therefore, interest rates.”

 Bloomberg / More

May 8, 2024

Yahoo! Finance: Fmr. Speaker Paul Ryan on GOP 'nihilists,' 2024, Trump's econ. plans

In an interview with Brian Sozzi and Akiko Fujita, former House Speaker discussed the current state of US politics and the potential effects of the upcoming 2024 presidential election on the economy.

In the House of Representatives, Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-GA) has filed a motion to oust current Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) after disagreeing with his negotiation efforts with Democrats to pass a $1.2 trillion funding bill. "Shame on people who think that they should vacate a Speaker for a policy disagreement," Ryan says of Taylor-Greene…..

On the issue of debt, Ryan believes that both 2024 presidential frontrunners will not do anything to alleviate the problem and are only "demagoguing those who are offering solutions." He warns, "We're walking ourselves into a very predictable crisis," and points to entitlement reforms that should be phased in to curtail the nation's growing debt. "You can't tax your way out of this," he explains, stressing that the debt crisis should be a bigger issue in the current election. 

Disagreeing with both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, Ryan tells Yahoo Finance that he will be writing in a Republican on Election Day.

Yahoo! Finance / More

May 7, 2024

At Milken Summit, Paul Ryan weighs in on the 2024 elections 

On May 6th, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) was a featured panelist at the 2024 Milken Institute's Global Conference in Los Angeles, California. Joining a panel on “2024 Election Insights” with Van Jones, Kelly Anne Conway, Jim Messina, and Chris Liddell and moderated by Gerry Baker, Ryan opined on the policy issues animating the 2024 Presidential election, the future of the Republican Party, and the implications of a 2nd term for President Biden or former President Trump. 

Video of the panel, courtesy of C-SPAN, is accessible here. Excerpts of Ryan’s responses, edited lightly for clarity, follow.  

Ryan on the stress-tests facing American democracy:

“At this stage in the 21st century, democracy is being tested in two very specific ways. One from within with our polarization, [with Americans] eating each other alive [politically], and can we reach consensus to solve our big problems. One from without by the authoritarian regimes who are basically saying they have the mojo, they can make decisions faster, and they can beat democracy. It’s authoritarianism and tyranny versus freedom and democracy.” 

Ryan on his place in American politics:

“I’m like one of those unicorns. I’m against Biden on policy and I’m against Trump on character, so I’m kind of in this no man’s land.” 

Ryan on the key 2024 policy challenges: 

“A debt crisis will be a challenge, particularly once the Fed is done cutting interest rates. There is going to have to be some entitlement reform to deal with this debt. It’s likely [done via] a Commission…. so you’re going to have to have divided-government consensus on this, probably through a fiscal commission. 

“I think we’re going to get consensus on what to do with China as a party. It looks different under Trump than Biden but, with respect to Congress, I think you’re getting a big Venn Diagram occurring on how to deal with China. You do not get that Venn Diagram between Trump and Biden and between Democrats and Republicans on Ukraine and NATO regretfully, but we just had a great vote the other day.  

“If Trump is President, because you asked me the hypothetical, he’s bad on NATO, bad on alliances, bad on Europe, bad on trade. Fighting China on trade is good, but he should do it via TPP and by getting trade agreements with our allies, which is probably the best China policy we could have. He won’t do that. Biden might, like Obama, have a second term change of opinion on trade and do some good policy there, hopefully he will, but I don’t know if he would do that as he’s not the same guy. 

“So, I think you’re going to see a possible debt crisis and obviously, immigration is a huge issue. If we get those two issues solved as Americans, if you secure your border and have an immigration system that meets the needs of our economy without depressing people’s wages and you get entitlements under control and you dodge a debt crisis, we’re going to have a great century. If we just fix those two issues, we will figure the rest out.

“So, Biden is going to be better on alliances and probably on foreign policy. Trump is going to be better on taxes and regulations. And both are really bad on fiscal policy.”

Ryan on the state of the GOP:

“MAGA has basically taken over the party. It is the establishment, and it has pushed people like me out because it’s populism untethered to any form of principle, but to a cult of personality. Trump is running the party like a Don Corleone type of story. Everybody who has ambition in front of them in Congress, they’re afraid. They’re afraid of criticizing him because they’ll be primaried. They’re afraid of criticizing because he or one of his surrogates will go after them, so there’s a lot of complicity.”

Ryan on Wisconsin’s role as a swing state:

“Speaking about Wisconsin, I think Kelly Anne is right about the issues. The issues are completely our issues. They have one issue: abortion, and it’s a powerful issue, but Republicans have every other issue. I was in Hy-Vee, in my hometown of Janesville. Hy-Vee is a grocery store in my Democratic hometown. I went into just grab something fast and it took me 45-minutes to get out of there because people still think I represent the area but every question from a Democratic town, mostly full of UAW retirees, was about economics or the border or inflation. It wasn’t about abortion. It wasn’t about January 6th. It was about those issues….

My district was one of the swingiest parts of the state. We call it the WOW counties, the counties that wrap-around Milwaukee, and it is college-educated voters who are pretty stable economically, but that’s still what matters to them: the economy. 

In 2020, they could afford to vote against Trump, even though they thought he would be better on economics, because of character. They thought Biden was going to be a moderate. He wasn’t. He went left and gave progressives the keys to the castle, so now these voters are betwixt and between. The polls are a dead heat and so, the question is, do these disaffected people in the WOW counties, who are mostly stable economically and who can afford to vote against Trump based on character again, will they vote for Biden now that he’s not the moderate that they thought he was or is there a 3rd party out there?....

I still think Trump can’t win but Biden can lose. Trump is pretty much polling at his peak in all the swing states. He’s polling at the best he has and the best he can get and Biden is underperforming everywhere.  

The question is: Can Biden go back and build that vote coalition that he had or not? 

At the end of the day, in my state, I think the Democrats win here because I think their party is just better organized. They are so much better organized than we are on the ground right now. I don’t like saying this, because our party was a juggernaut just 8 years ago, but Democrats are so much better organized than we are. I would guess Democrats pull it out at the end, but if Biden can’t get to the middle - and I don’t know for the life of me why he’s chasing these left-wing voters, because Trump will deliver these voters for him -  and if Biden doesn’t pivot soon, Trump might win.”  

C-SPAN / More 

April 2, 2024

Nikkei: Trump's grip on Republican Party 'temporary': ex-U.S. Speaker Ryan

Retired U.S. Congressman Paul Ryan sees an end to former President Donald Trump's current grip on the Republican Party, telling Nikkei that it is "not durable, in my book."

"I see it as a temporary phenomenon ... that is not an intellectual movement, that is not a policy, that is not a principle, that is not a set of reforms, that doesn't offer solutions," the former U.S. speaker of the House of Representatives and vice-presidential candidate in the 2012 presidential election said in an interview in Dallas, Texas….

Ryan is a Catholic who values small government and deregulation. "I'm a classical liberal conservative, like a Reagan conservative," he said. "I believe in trade, I believe in free and open markets. I believe in strong national defense and the Constitution." 

Regarding Trump, who is on track to be the Republican candidate in November's presidential election, Ryan said "he's more of an accelerant and a vessel than, necessarily, the cause of what's happening." 

He described the current state of the Republican party as a populist moment "untethered" to policy or philosophy. "This populism is wrapped around, sort of, the cult of personality of Donald Trump," he said… 

"It's purely a test of loyalty to a guy. Not a principle, not a cause, not an idea," he went on. "We have this weird loyalty test that means you're a Republican in name only if you do not pledge loyalty to Donald Trump."

He sees the current situation in which conservatives are dominated by Trump supporters as a temporary one. "We will get to a point where so many of our problems will go unsolved because of this political paralysis we have," he said.

"I think the country is going to get tired of problems just not getting solved and the polarization that leads to that," he added. "So, I do believe that ... 'polarization fatigue' will set in, and people will be sick and tired of problems going unsolved…."

Regarding the possibility of a political comeback, Ryan simply said, "I'm enjoying my life right now. I'm an anti-establishment Republican."

When the reporter suggested running for president in the future, perhaps 24 years from now in 2048, Ryan laughed, saying, "I will still be younger than Joe Biden."

Nikkei / More

March 27, 2024

Norman Transcript: Ryan laments current political landscape, asks for more civility

Former Speaker of the House and 2012 Vice President Nominee Paul Ryan told Norman residents that the U.S. needs more civility in politics as the keynote speaker for the University of Oklahoma’s Presidential Speakers Series.

Ryan told The Transcript that Oklahoma holds a special place in his heart since he married his wife, Janna, who is from Madill.

“I come to Oklahoma a lot because my wife is from Madill and their family ranch is there. I come to Oklahoma every year to hunt and fish in Madill, and I’ve been going to OU games for the last 20 years,” Ryan said….

**

“I have a lot of roots to OU through marriage,” Ryan said. “We have bird dogs, and I naturally wanted to name them Bucky and Badger, but we ended up calling them Boomer and Sooner. It just tells who makes the decisions in our family.”

He said his biggest concern for young people is that they are witnessing an unprecedented tone as far as political dialogue.

“I think it’s really important that young people, particularly college students, get a sense that politics and political discussion is not just about anger and personality destruction,” Ryan said. “There are bigger issues to talk about, and there are civil discussions to be had….

“I think younger Americans get fed this content 24/7 via social media algorithms that often play on the emotions of anger and fear, and they push people further into illogical corners that dumbs down policy and ratchets up partisanship,” Ryan said.

He said he would like to see people look up to mentors and leaders who look for middle ground, and that many members of Congress exemplify moderation required to push positive policy and bring people together.

“With your thumbs on social media, and even on cable, you can become a household name quickly if you just shock and awe. Marjorie Taylor Greene is a perfect example. She hasn’t passed a single piece of legislation that I know of,” Ryan said.

Norman Transcript / More

March 27, 2024

OU Daily: Ryan talks Trump, future of politics in student forum

Former United States Speaker of the House and former vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan visited OU’s Norman campus on Wednesday, telling students to engage with their communities and protect democracy.

Alongside lecturing at the Spring 2024 Presidential Speaker’s Series, Ryan held a public forum in the Price College of Business, where he discussed discouragement for young voters, populism's role in the modern Republican party and the role of college students in the future of democracy.

According to Ryan, young voters are dissuaded from politics due to a lack of representation in both political parties, citing the ages of presidential candidates President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

“Younger voters are going to be drawn more towards younger people,” Ryan said. “Both parties have a problem with both of our tops of the ticket, Joe Biden and Donald Trump are basically 80 or pushing 80. Right now, younger people are seeing what's out there and are looking for something else. 

Ryan said college students are responsible for decreasing political polarization. He added students should continue community involvement following college and seek diversity.

“It's your job to try and take the sting out of the coarseness of our political dialogue and bring civility back in public conversations and the way you do that is you drop the phone and go and get yourself involved in civil society,” Ryan said. “Get involved in something out of college, where you're spending time with people who don't look or think like you or don't come from where you come from, and learn how other peoples’ perspectives work.”

Ryan said the modern Republican party utilizes populism dedicated to a single person, Trump. He added personality-based populism is not durable, citing Trump’s potential to receive one more term. 

“If your populism is untethered to any core set of ideas and principles, and in our current moment, tied to a person or a personality, that's not good populism – that's unhealthy populism,” Ryan said. “It’s not an ideology, it’s not a philosophy, it’s just a person and it’s a very inconsistent person at that.”

**

Ryan said the continuance of personality-based populism has created an internal division within the Republican party that will repel young voters.

“In Congress today, it's red-on-red violence. It's people going after each other inside your own party,” Ryan said. “Seeing that displayed in front of you if you're young coming into politics … could be not as attractive as having a hopeful, aspirational, inclusive vision that says ‘these are the enduring founding principles of the country that made it so special, so unique, and these are 21st century applications of those principles to the problems of our time.”

Ryan said the Republican party requires “soul-searching” following Trump’s eventual departure from the public eye. Instead of Trump-related populism, Ryan believes Republicans will need to appeal to the majority of voters, fusing nationalists and traditional conservatives.

“Some kind of fusion of those policies and ideas hopefully will manifest itself into a coherent philosophy that is capable of speaking to the needs of the country and is capable of winning the hearts and the minds of a majority of the country,” Ryan said. “But that's not going to happen until we're through this moment and this moment is built around the guy.”

Ryan told an OU Daily reporter bipartisan societal forces, including digital subjectivity through social media, are dissolving democracy. 

“We're the oldest democracy in the world and we're about one generation away from losing it, so you can't take it for granted,” Ryan said. “We have a lot of strong institutions that have been built up for centuries to protect it, but we're chipping away at those institutions. It's not just one politician or one political party … it's just sort of society, it's the coarseness of our political debate (and) it's the digitization that is occurring….” 

OU Daily / More

March 6, 2024

At WSJ CFO Summit, Ryan discusses economic and political landscape ahead of 2024 election

On March 6th, as part of the Wall Street Journal’s CFO Summit in New York, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) discussed how business leaders can prepare for the policy implications of a second Trump or Biden Administration. Talking with the Journal’s Charles Forelle to hundreds of Chief Financial Officers, Ryan also touched on the future of tax reform and the direction of the Republican Party. 

Excerpts of the conversation follow and the entire video, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, is accessible here.

Discussing the likely Trump-Biden 2024 rematch: 

“It’s two incumbents running against each other, for all practical purposes. I think Nikki Haley did a good job in advancing my brand of conservativism – a traditional, classical liberal brand of conservatism – but Trump has the base. The base is too big to counter. When you start with about 40% going into a primary, Trump was effectively an incumbent and too many people divided the rest of the vote. It is what it is. 

Biden’s weakness has made Trump that much stronger. I think the two of them have a symbiotic relationship with each other where each makes the other’s case for their candidacies. I mean, Nikki Haley beats Joe Biden by about 16 points nation-wide and Trump beats him by 1 or 2, but Biden’s weakness is what made it easier for voters to think they could have Trump as the nominee and still win the White House. This will be one of the longest general elections in modern history and we all know what this movie looks like since we have played it before.”

Learning the “candidate quality” lessons from 2018-2022 to win Congressional elections in 2024: 

“I think [the Republican Party] has gotten better at contesting primaries and we are getting better candidates emerging from them. Trump pushed a lot of his own people through primaries in 2018 and 2020 and we lost. We lost our majorities and we lost a lot of good candidacies. I think, from a legislative race standpoint, he was convinced enough to stay out of those things [in 2024] because we want people to win. 

This time, he hasn’t put his thumb on the scale like he normally has done with his “fealty meter.” He has this sort of “fealty meter” and that’s what RINO means these days. RINO doesn’t mean moderate or conservative Republican. It means a low or high fealty-level to Trump. 

I don’t think they pushed too hard to get MAGA candidates in to all of our primaries. Texas is a different story and it depends on if you’re in a red state or not. But if you’re in a contested state like Wisconsin, you’re not going to try and get the MAGA person out of a primary because you know you’re more likely to lose the general. This version of Trump, in 2024, respected that a little bit more and so, we have better general election candidates as a result of that. We have normal, mainstream conservatives – Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania, Eric Hovde in Wisconsin. We will see what happens in Michigan and Ohio, but it looks like we’re getting the non-MAGA, better general-election candidates and that’s good for our Congressional races.”

Outlining a way forward for the GOP after the Trump-era:  

“It will be a fusion of free-market capitalism, limited government conservatives like myself and these sort of mercantilist economic, forgotten-man type Republicans. What does that mean? 

It means breaking bread on immigration policy. Trade policy that has trade agreements but that is respectful of enforcing those agreements and then, I think, you’ll have a more free-market tax policy. Then the question is: Do fiscal conservatives like me have a place in the party so we can get our debt under control and reform our entitlements? Right now, that’s considered unpopular and populists are against those things.  So, you’ll have a fusion of these things – something that speaks to the forgotten man and the blue-collar worker who feels like they have fallen behind and the kind of economic policies that create economic growth and opportunity….”

Attracting younger voters to the conservative momentum: 

“My worry is another 4.5-5 years of Trump is going to really kill us with young people. It’s going to make it much more difficult for young people to want to be attracted to conservatism and to the GOP. So, that is a concern I have, but there is a coterie of younger Republicans coming into the fore -- some in the image of Trump and some not -- and that’s why I think it will be a fight for the soul of the conservative movement.

There are a lot of groups out there constituting themselves to engage in this fight but right now, it’s not a fair fight because Trump is dominant. Trump is the establishment; I am an anti-establishment Republican. He is the establishment and I think, again, he has a shelf life because of his age, because of the fact that he will be a lame duck President and can’t run again if he wins.”

Divisive politics contributing to perceptions of economic pessimism: 

“Biden is going to have to win by running against Trump and talking about Trump all of the time. And Trump is going to win by trashing Biden, talking about how horrible things are, and saying how only he can fix things. That’s not a very positive message and voters are getting pelted by both of these arguments and it leaves them in a pessimistic state of mind, even though a soft [economic] landing is coming.

It looks like a soft landing is happening. Macroeconomically, we’re in pretty good shape, especially relative to our peers, but that is not how voters feel. If you turn on their social media feeds, they aren’t seeing a bunch of positivity. They are seeing cynicism and the digitization of politics basically takes moral relativism, pumps digital accelerants into it, and plays us off each other in this identity politics craze that we are in…. Identity politics is, by its design, divisive politics and that’s what people are experiencing. Forget about the [positive] macroeconomics… that is not what people feel or see when they turn on their phones in the morning.”

Detailing the future of tax reform: 

“I count the 2017 law as one of my best achievements in Congress. I spent 20 years on tax reform. I chaired the Ways and Means Committee before I was Speaker, so I spent my entire adult life on this issue. I think it would be better, from a baseline perspective, just to get the Wyden-Smith bill done….

The best growth mover that we have in front of us is full expensing. And so, if that doesn’t get done now because it fails in the Senate, which is quite possible, it gets added to the list of stuff to do in the next Congress and it hurts the baseline that much more… 

When Kevin Brady and I wrote the law – he was my successor at Ways and Means - we made permanent what we thought had to be permanent for fiscal planning reasons and for political reasons because we didn’t know who would be running what in 2025. We made permanent switching to a territorial system. We made permanent dropping the corporate rate to 21%. That’s permanent. What goes away are the individual rates and the individual provisions which, frankly, we thought no matter what the political outcome is in 10 years time, it is easier to extend those than the corporate stuff. So, Section 199-A, which is the commensurate rate drop for all the passthroughs, that goes away, but that is pretty easy to extend.

It’s pretty hard to argue that the S-Corp who is competing with the C-Corp across the street should have a giant tax increase and if the Biden policy prevails, their top tax rate would be 44.6% effectively. I think that gets extended no matter what. 

Expensing and 199-A, I put in the camp of “will get done,” no matter who is running what… The top rate, however, if it’s divided government, has a hard chance of staying so it would go from 37% to 39.6%. There are a few other provisions that are pretty simple which will get extended and even Biden is saying, the middle class is by his definition, $400,000 of AGI or lower, so all those rates get extended. I think you’ll see like the fiscal cliff deal that we did with Obama, where the top rate goes up, but in any divided government scenario, 199-A gets extended and expensing gets extended….

The way that my side will look at it is: Let’s trade the IRA for the extension of the tax cuts and call it a day, which is fine with me. The problem is a lot of the IRA is baked into the cake and some of it will run its course. It won’t be repealed because I’m of the thesis that we will have divided government. If you have unified government of all Republicans, you can use reconciliation to do what I just said: Get rid of the IRA stuff, which no one on my side really wants, and bring in the extension of the tax cuts in a fiscally responsible way so you don’t have a huge debt hole.”

Wall Street Journal / More  

March 6, 2024

CNBC: Paul Ryan discusses Nikki Haley, the implications of a 2nd Trump or Biden term, and how Congress can tackle our fiscal problems

In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) discussed the trajectory of the 2024 Presidential election and the current policy fights on Capitol Hill. Excerpts and video of Speaker Ryan’s interview are accessible below.

On Nikki Haley’s decision to suspend her campaign:

“She ran a great race. First of all, I just want to commend Nikki Haley. She gave people like me – real conservatives -- a home. She spoke to traditional conservatives in a very compelling way. She advanced our principles and highlighted and defended our principles quite well, but it just wasn’t enough, and she just didn’t capture the [majority of the] party…. I’m glad she made the race. She beat everyone else out in the field and did a good job representing traditional conservatives.

I think Trump would be wise to listen to her about what it takes to appeal to traditional conservatives and moderates and centrists, the people who make the difference in these close elections. It is the suburban voter that is going to make the difference in this race; that’s where Nikki did really well. It’s where she was strongest. I think she represents a cohort of voters in this country that are the swing, pivotal voters so I think people would be wise to listen to what she has to say. “

On the costs of President Biden’s lurch to the left:

“The problem for Biden, from my perspective, is he chased the wrong voters for the last three and a half years. He went to the left. The suburban centrists in Milwaukee, my old Congressional District, voted for him thinking he would be a moderate. That’s not what he was.

If you stack up the issues, other than maybe life, the issues stack up for Republicans because Biden gave the issues away by [appealing] to the hard left. That’s a mistake he made and I think they’re ruing that day right now. “

On the lack of Presidential leadership on fiscal issues:

“My biggest concern is we’ll probably have a debt crisis under the watch of the next President and during the next presidency. Once we’re done cutting rates, all of these sovereign nations out there and all these first world countries have the same problems we have – baby boomers and unfunded entitlements. They’re all bringing debt to the markets and it’s not inconceivable we could have an auction failure after the Federal Reserve is done cutting rates. And then what?

The question in my mind is: What is the next person going to do about this? Both of these guys are campaigning against doing anything about this and that really bothers me.”

On what Congress can do now to improve our economy:

“There are a couple of things that Congress could do that they’re discussing like a debt commission. I think Congress could get a debt commission formed, get it in place. You can do a commission in a way like the Greenspan Social Security Commission where it is statutory, where Congress has to vote on it, where Congress can’t avoid it, and you can set one of those up now so they produce an outcome and a product in 2025.

You can pass stable coin legislation so you can get the dollar more deeply embedded in the global monetary system as we digitize. This will create more demand for our bonds, more buyers for our bonds, like stable coins do…..

They have the first six appropriations bills coming to the floor this week. That’s good. I think Mike Johnson deserves credit for getting these to the floor. I think they’re going to get Ukraine aid done. It may be ugly, but they’re going to get it done and then they have to do the rest of the appropriations bills and that’s likely the last thing leaving the station.”

CNBC / More

February 22, 2024

Washington Post: Ryan on 'Trump populism,' Nikki Haley being 'healthy' for his party and the future of the GOP

Former Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, took part in the Washington Post Live event series talking with the Post’s senior Congressional Correspondent, Paul Kane, about the major political and public policy issues of the day. In the one-on-one interview, Ryan discussed the past, present, and future of the Republican Party. He shared his thoughts on the 2024 Republican primary and general elections, his advice for Speaker Mike Johnson, and his work since leaving Congress.

Video excerpts of the conversation follow and the full transcript is accessible here.

On why former President Trump is the current GOP frontrunner:

“[Republican voters] want a fighter, they want a scrapper, they want a culture warrior. I also think these indictments, particularly the New York ones, made him a victim and that grafted MAGA into him that much more. I think these federal indictments are far more serious. I think these New York ones are far more political in nature …. He can dominate news cycles and that made it really hard for a lot of these primary opponents to really catch fire … At the end of the day, I think Democrats come home; not because they’re motivated by Biden, but because they’re motivated by Trump.”

On Trump Populism:

“I’m in the minority of my party right now, I’m not in the establishment; I’m, frankly, an anti-establishment Republican. I think you can safely argue that Trump is the establishment and Trump populism is the establishment and that Trump populism is this more isolationist strain that I think is wrong and dangerous and I don’t support. But that does represent a large swath of Republican voters. And so, you will see opinions representing that majority, that current present-day establishment.”

On Advice for Mike Johnson:

“I don’t think you can be good at these jobs unless you’re willing to lose them. You have to get your mind [right and get to] a stage in your life and career when the best move to make could put yourself in jeopardy of losing your job, but [you do it because] it’s the best move to make. That’s when you are able to be really, truly good at these [jobs]. Mike’s a fairly new guy in Congress. I like Mike a lot, I think he’s a principled, good, smart guy but he’s got a lot of lessons he’s going to end up learning and he’s got a razor thin majority that basically makes the place work like a parliamentary system. I think they’ll come to a moment where he’ll be faced with a decision to make and that decision will be better made if he’s just not thinking about his own personal fate.”

On Ambassador Nikki Haley staying in the GOP primary:

“I think it’s healthy for our party that she’s in …. The problem is that Trump just has a really good grip on a big base of our primary. But if you look at numbers and polls, most people don’t want either of these two guys for our candidates. About half of Republicans don’t want Trump as their nominee. So, I do think she’s bringing up a healthy dialogue, raising important questions. So, I think it’s healthy for our party that she stays in the race. How long she should stay in? I’ll just leave it to her to make that decision.”

Read more of what Ryan had to say by checking out coverage in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel & The Hill.  

January 29, 2024

The Well News: Former House Speaker Ryan Calls EITC ‘Best Tool in the Arsenal’ for Economic Mobility

According to Paul Ryan, former speaker of the House, on hand at the Bipartisan Policy Center to discuss economic security for working families, the impending reopening of the federal tax code in 2025 may be an opportunity to consider enhancements to the EITC.

“If you are pushing for a society that is known for upward mobility, and you are striving for equality of opportunity, the best tool in the arsenal that we have today is the EITC,” Ryan said.

“This is as much of a no-brainer policy as I have ever seen,” agreed Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase CEO and chairman….

Saying the EITC “has proven to be very effective,” Ryan emphasized that technology is the key to enhancing the program’s efficiency further. 

“The reason we couldn’t fix this when I was running the committee that deals with this, is technology,” he said. “By now, surely technology can solve this problem; Can make sure that [the credit] goes to who it needs to go to… Can clear up waste, fraud and abuse.”

Doubling down on his criticism of the Treasury Department’s “terrible data system,” Ryan said that with the right software, EITC could be a “monthly or biweekly” credit “embed[ed] in a person’s paycheck.”

In addition to addressing the shortcomings of the current data systems and software at Treasury, Dimon prefers any updates to the EITC “get rid of the child requirement,” which Ryan has also previously endorsed, and simplifying the credit as a straightforward benefit.

“It is either that or universal basic income. Those are the two debates in front of us,” Ryan said. “Smooth disincentives and focus on individual customized benefits that get people to work.”

The Well News / More

January 26, 2024

C-SPAN: At Bipartisan Policy Center, Ryan joins private and public sector experts to discuss expanding economic opportunities and the future of the EITC:

During a conversation hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington DC, former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon discussed ways to protect economic security for families and tax policy. The discussion touched on how Congress can work on a bipartisan basis to promote economic growth and incentivize work and upward mobility.

C-SPAN / More

January 22, 2024

MarketWatch: Ryan Says Nikki Haley Would ‘Smoke’ Biden, Trump Not ‘Fit’ for Office

“I’d say Trump is the likely nominee. But Nikki Haley, I think, has a plausible path,” Ryan told Barron’s Editor at Large Andy Serwer in a public session of At Barron’s last week, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. 

For the former speaker, the choice is clear. The 2012 vice-presidential candidate under Mitt Romney and a staunch conservative, Ryan has been one of the few high-profile Republicans not to bow to Trump’s control over the party, earning him the ire of the former president.

“We became a party that is populist…a populism not tethered to any set of principles or policies. It’s a populism that is tethered to basically a cult of personality in a cultural war,” Ryan told Serwer. “I’m an anti-Trump guy…I don’t think he’s fit for office…”

While Ryan acknowledged his party’s slide away from pro-business conservatism to Trumpian populism, the former speaker maintained that a second Trump presidency would be preferable for companies than another four years of Biden.

“I’m not supporting the guy, but the Trump administration would be more pro-business, more light-regulatory-touch, probably pretty bad on tariffs,” Ryan said. But he also cautioned that business leaders looking into the future should not expect Trump 2.0 to look like Trump 1.0, because the personnel “will be very, very different.”

The former speaker added that he believes Trump “would gravitate back to the mean” on regulations, and likely extend the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which includes many provisions that expire after 2025.

“[Trump] would be better than the current Biden administration,” Ryan said. “I think the Biden administration has terrible economic policy. The Trump ministration would have, put trade aside, better economic policy.”

MarketWatch / More

January 18, 2024

CNBC: Paul Ryan on a border security deal, the GOP primary after Iowa, & government funding

Appearing live from Davos, Switzerland, former House Speaker Paul Ryan joined CNBC’s 'Squawk Box' to discuss the state of the 2024 race, whether a deal can be reached on Capitol Hill to avert a government shutdown, GOP divisions in Congress, and the main takeaways from the World Economic Forum.

On the trajectory of the Presidential Election following the primary in Iowa, Ryan said:

“Look, a lot is going to happen between now and November. Nothing is linear in politics these days. There are going to be some zig-zags so who knows, that’s the point. President Joe Biden is so weak that even Donald Trump polls ahead of him but look at Nikki Haley’s polling. She beats Biden by 12% in head to head polls. I would prefer a candidate who I think would be a good president, who I know is going to win, and by the way, who is going to give us more seats in Congress – and that’s Nikki Haley.”

CNBC / More 

December 1, 2023

ON TENEO INSIGHTS PODCAST, RYAN TALKS ECONOMICS, VOTER ATTITUDES, AND ADVICE FOR CEOs

Earlier this week, former House Speaker Paul Ryan joined the Teneo Insights Podcast, hosted by Kevin Kajiwara, for a discussion the current state of U.S. politics; how Congress will avert a government shutdown; the state of the electorate; and the biggest challenges and opportunities facing global businesses in today’s volatile environment.

Teneo / More

November 30, 2023

CNBC: RYAN DISCUSSES 2024, AMB. HALEY’S ASCENDANCY, & POTENTIAL PROGRESS ON GOVERNMENT FUNDING

In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan talked with hosts Becky Quick, Joe Kernen, and Andrew Ross Sorkin about the state of the Republican Party and Nikki Haley’s recent rise in the polls. Ryan also discussed the House Freedom Caucus’ new willingness to fund the government at the debt-limit negotiated levels and the prospects of a fiscal commission to address our debt and deficit.

On the state of the 2024 Republican primary, Ryan said:

“Do not discount the Americans for Prosperity endorsement of Nikki Haley two days ago. That’s actually a really big deal. The reason that’s a really big deal is because you could say that Ron DeSantis’ big advantage over Nikki Haley was his ground game in Iowa, which is impressive.

“Americans for Prosperity have an extremely impressive ground game. This is the Koch Network’s ground game and they just gave that to Nikki Haley so not only does that level her up in Iowa with Ron DeSantis, it gives her a ground game in all these other states. This and the calendar plays to her advantage. I’m not saying that I’m all for Nikki Haley; I’m all for beating Donald Trump. I’m for any Republican who can beat Donald Trump.

But I think if you had to pick a growth stock, I think Nikki is the growth stock and the fact that she got this endorsement matters a lot. So the question ism since almost half of Republicans don’t want Donald Trump to be our nominee – and I’m among those half -- can someone consolidate the support in time to win? 

I think that’s possible…. I’m not saying that it’s going to happen but it’s still plausible… After Iowa, you could see some consolidation and if one person can quickly consolidate the non-Trump field, I think because of these other atmospherics, like AFP’s endorsement and the rest, I think you can see a plausible contention for the Republican nomination.

Here’s the reason: In the head to head polls, people do better against Joe Biden than Donald Trump does. I think the only person that Joe Biden can beat is Donald Trump and frankly, I think he does beat him because Democrats come home at the end of the day. And Democrats will come home if they’re motivated. And you know what motivates Democrats? Donald Trump.

I think Biden still ends up beating Trump at the end of the day but I don’t think he can beat any of these other Republican candidates.” 

CNBC / More

November 28, 2023

RYAN & INDUSTRY LEADERS DETAIL HOW AMERICA CAN LEAD THE WAY ON CRYPTO CURRENCY STANDARDS

At a conference hosted by the Digital Dollar Project and the Atlantic Council entitled, Exploring Central Bank Digital Currency: Pathways to International Standards, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan joined a panel of experts for discussion on how democracies can develop global standards around crypto currencies and how the U.S. can lead when it comes to establishing Central Bank Digital Currencies.

Speaker Ryan noted: “The inevitability of this technology is here. As an American, I want to see our reserve currency status continued and that means we need to stay on top of this and ahead of this and help the world with this. As a conservative of the classical liberal variant, meaning a limited-government, free-market, individual rights advocate, I want to make sure that the free world and free societies have their values protected inside the architecture of [central bank digital currencies] as they are deployed across the world. You are going to have authoritarian regimes deploy their versions of this and the question is: Can the free world stay ahead of this and protect our critical values – privacy, freedom, liberty, security?”

View the entire panel conversation with Speaker Ryan by clicking here.

October 24, 2023

At NIC Fall Conference, Ryan discusses meeting the challenge of America’s aging population

Delivering the keynote address at the National Investment Center for Senior Housing & Care Fall Conference in Chicago, IL, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan talked about solving workforce shortages in the skilled-nursing industry, the need for reforming our entitlement programs, and recent developments involving the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Ryan’s remarks were covered by industry press outlets and are excerpted below:

McKnights Senior Living: Ryan says CMS staffing mandate can be overruled, tabs senior care workforce solutions

Ryan delivered on his mission of framing US economic and public policy issues here Tuesday, optimistically emphasizing that immigration reform and technology are the two best tools to help senior care operators overcome their dire staffing shortages.

But he probably raised the most interest among skilled nursing leaders at the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care (NIC) conference when he explained Congress has a clear ability to block a federal nursing home staffing mandate if it has the collective will to do so.

“The Congressional Review Act gives us [Congress] the ability to pass a law that says that the minimum staffing rule is repealed because it was a bad rule,” said Ryan, who delivered Tuesday’s keynote. “It can’t be filibustered in the Senate. If it passes in the Senate, it happens and it goes away, no matter who the president is. That kind of stuff can happen.”

McKnights Senior Living: ‘Unique’ senior living workforce challenges have 3 solutions, Ryan says

Three keys to solving workforce shortages in senior living and skilled nursing are changes to the country’s social safety net, reforms to immigration policies, and the use of technology, according to Paul Ryan. Those potential solutions come with challenges, however, he said….

“Nobody is suggesting we do anything to hurt current seniors. Nobody. …It’s all prospective reforms to reform these programs so they don’t go bankrupt, so they’re economically viable and they don’t bankrupt the country,” he said. “You’ve got to tackle this issue fast….”

After social safety net reform, immigration reform is “the hardest issue to deal with politically,” Ryan said, noting that he worked on the issue for his entire congressional career.

“But I am convinced, like entitlement reform, immigration reform is going to get done, for one reason: It has to get done,” he said, noting that there simply aren’t enough US citizens to fill open positions. The long-term care industry, he added, “desperately” needs immigration reform.

Labor challenges, Ryan told attendees, are “very unique in this industry, because this is an industry feeling the demographic crunch, doubling the people who need the services and cutting the people who supply the services. It’s no more acute than it is in this industry.”

Ultimately, however, “[t]he labor shortage that you’re experiencing in healthcare can be solved. We just don’t have the politics right, right now,” he said. “We have unserious politics. But the point I’m trying to say is, it’s a good-news story. It’s not an unsolvable problem.”

October 18, 2023

The Harvard Crimson: Ryan takes aim at ‘Unserious Politics’ at IOP Forum

Hours after a failed vote to elect the next speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan discussed the stalemate among Republicans in the search for Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) successor at an Institute of Politics forum Tuesday evening.

During the event, which was moderated by Harvard Kennedy School and Economics professor Karen E. Dynan, Ryan criticized the current state of national politics in relation to the economy and the rising national debt.

“You have unserious politics that is incapable of dealing with the drivers of our debt, which basically are our entitlement programs,” Ryan said.

“It’s all populism and personality, and that’s one of the reasons why people are having a hard time getting everybody to get on the same page,” he added…..

“Kevin got vacated by Gaetz and seven other nihilists who are just burning the place down, no reason for it really,” he said.

Without a speaker, the House’s legislative business has ground to a halt, even as the crisis in the Middle East escalates and a government shutdown looms. In an interview with The Crimson following the forum, Ryan dismissed the idea of a bipartisan solution. Instead, he supported Speaker pro tempore Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) receiving “elevated powers,” to allow the legislative body to resume its duties.

“The last, last, last resort is a coalition government because that means the majority ceding its power to be a majority, ” Ryan said. “I think they’ll go to McHenry as a souped-up Speaker pro temp as the last resort before they do that.”

Ryan also discussed the crowded Republican primary field and last week’s Utah summit he co-hosted with Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) that gathered GOP presidential hopefuls.

“Mitt and I are of the belief that we should coalesce around a single non-Trump person because two-thirds of our party wants somebody other than Donald Trump to be our nominee,” Ryan said in an interview with The Crimson.

“Our goal is to try and condense the field as quickly as possible around one person. We all have our different favorites, but that’s not as important as getting the field narrowed down fairly quickly,” he added.

The Harvard Crimson / More

October 10, 2023

Washington Examiner: Romney-Ryan Network Revives To Influence 2024 Election

"A moderate and well-funded network led by the former 2012 Republican presidential ticket of Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and former House Speaker Paul Ryan is teaming up to influence the 2024 election and contemporary politics.

Ryan told Secrets that the E2 Summit, named for “experts and enthusiasts,” is his way to jazz up Republicans looking for a new party leader.

“There's a vacuum of leadership right now which underscores the importance of bringing together an array of key voices for serious and substantive conversations about the challenges we face and how they can be addressed,” he said of the summit that he is hosting.

“The individuals speaking at E2 this week — from elected officials, political candidates, top policy minds, military and national security experts, leading CEOs, and others at the forefront of their respective fields — all offer unique perspectives and innovative ideas that will allow us to work towards solving these problems and improving the country's future outlook,” Ryan added.

Washington Examiner / More

October 10, 2023

Washington Post: Romney And Paul Ryan Host 2024 Candidates At Influential Summit

"The influential network of donors who joined forces to boost the 2012 presidential bid of Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul D. Ryan, are meeting in Park City, Utah, on Tuesday, where they will hear from four of the GOP presidential candidates who are trying to prove to donors that they are best positioned to defeat Donald Trump." 

Spencer Zwick, Romney’s former finance chair, described the attendees as individuals who are “sincerely looking for an alternative to Donald Trump” who “want to get excited about getting behind someone that they believe would be a thoughtful, serious candidate for president." 

"To pretend like Donald Trump isn’t looming over the presidential primary would be would be foolish — they understand that. But this group is not going to sit back and say, ‘Okay, well, let’s just accept that Donald Trump’s going to be the nominee,” Zwick said. “If people in this room, and at this gathering, start to really get behind one or two of these candidates, you’re going to see some real movement in the polls…. At some point, and hopefully in the not too distant future, we can start to coalesce around a smaller group of candidates.

Washington Post / More

October 10, 2023

CNBC: Paul Ryan on Polarization, the E2 Summit, & the Need for True Leadership

In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, former House Speaker Paul Ryan discussed the E2 Summit, polarization, and dynamics within the Republican Party. Excerpts and video of Ryan’s answers follow.

 CNBC: Ryan: We have an incentive structure in our society to polarize

CNBC: Former Speaker Paul Ryan on challenges facing the GOP

RYAN: "But mostly, we're talking about solutions. How do we get the country through a debt crisis that is clearly in the offing in the future? How do we address AI? How do we bring the country back together? How do we reduce polarization? How do we advance principles, solve the country's problems? So, that's what we talk about here and this is a great annual gathering of people who want to solve the country’s problems, who are principled conservatives, who want to see conservativism that is not just tethered to the populism of one person – Donald Trump – but principled conservativism that is popular and solves problems. That’s what we’re talking about here.”

RYAN: "I think we have digitized moral relativism and we now have an incentive structure in our society to polarize. You can make money on this. We have entertainers coming to Congress on both sides of the aisle who don't want to be legislators, but they want to be provocateurs. They want to entertain and provoke and build a brand and reject compromise and reject principles. So, that is a new challenge for democracy. It is our challenge. I do think we are going to overcome this because I think the country wants to get through these problems. It just takes leadership, and right now, frankly, we don’t have that. We don’t have it coming out of the White House today and we don’t have it from our frontrunner running for President in my party today.” 

RYAN: "And it takes that kind of leadership which is principled leadership that lays out a vision for the country. Here's how we solve our problems, here's how we come together, and then get a bipartisan consensus to do that, or at least get your own party rolling in the right direction. We don't have that right now but I do, Andrew, think, we can get that. So, no, I don't think it's over. I do think we will get our act together because we always do in this country and I think the country is going to be hungry for solutions. I think people – I watch this quite a bit, I still travel the country constantly – people are getting sick and tired of nothing getting done and problems not getting solved. I do hope and pray that the country is going to, sooner rather than later – want to elect leaders that are capable of bridging these gaps and getting things done, and not just playing to the base, not just looking for hits and clicks. We need people who are going to go to Congress, who are going to solve problems – not a bunch of Matt Gaetzs. I think the country is starting to wake up to that, that these are just carnival barkers not looking to solve problems, they're just exploiting differences. I think we can get through that, yes I do, Andrew.”

October 6, 2023

“We can fix our problems,” Former Speaker Paul Ryan shares a message of fiscal responsibility

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan spoke at UVU to a crowd of students and faculty regarding fiscal issues and how the country can address the issues facing the nation. 

Speaking at the Keller Building on Oct. 5 as a part of an event hosted by the Herbert Institute, Ryan spoke about how the lack of entitlement reform and deficit spending has led to a growing national debt which threatens the security of the nation. 

“Your generation is getting sent a massive amount of debt,” Ryan warned. “If this is not solved, it is a mathematical certainty that it is giving our country a less prosperous and more diminished future.” 

Throughout his presentation, Ryan pointed to what he called were the “two greatest threats” facing America, which he identified first was the national debt, the second was the growing influence of China. Fiscal policy was the primary focus of his book “American Renewal,” which outlines his and his co-authors conservative approach to solving America’s financial struggles….

Ryan had strong thoughts regarding the recent ousting of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy saying, “what happened in congress the other day was a disgrace.” He had stronger words for Matt Gaetz, calling him an “unprincipled demagogue.” 

“Don’t send us more Matt Gaetz’s, send us more people like John Curtis. Send us legislators who are there to solve problems and not to get hits and clicks to become famous,” Ryan stated. “The problem we have is there are entertainers in Congress.” 

The motion to vacate was something that the former speaker identified with needing to be fixed. Saying that speaker can’t do their job with “a gun to their head.”  

“The speaker has to negotiate and compromise with the Senate and the White house to get things done,” Ryan stressed. “It was a total tragedy that this handful of rebels brought Congress to a screeching halt… this was a big break to the institution.” 

 UVU Review/ More

October 5, 2023

Deseret News: Paul Ryan: Vote to remove McCarthy a ‘total disgrace’

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan said the historic vote to remove Kevin McCarthy from his role as speaker on Tuesday was “a total disgrace….”

Ryan said an “unprincipled demagogue” overthrew McCarthy for “just doing his job” — referring to Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who coordinated the effort to remove McCarthy from his role, and who Ryan criticized by name later in his remarks…

“You’ve got these people who go to government to entertain, not to govern,” said Ryan. He said he had a recommendation for Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., who are the front-runners in the race to replace McCarthy — “They should not take this job unless they fix the motion to vacate.”

Ryan had harsh words for Trump, and his indirect role in the ousting of McCarthy.

“The kind of populism we have right now is not rooted in principle. It’s unprincipled populism, wrapped around the cult of a personality on Donald Trump. And this populism is gripping our party in very ugly ways,” he said. “And it’s manifesting itself in this ugly politics that we just saw displayed on the House floor two days ago. We have to get past this…”

“I don’t know if you all know this, but Trump and I don’t get along very well,” he said.

“I think he’s a scourge. I think he’s dangerous for our party and for the country. Look, I’m old school. I’m old fashioned. I believe political leaders should strive to be honest, ethical and moral people and should try to set a standard for the rest of the country. Donald Trump doesn’t do any of that. He frankly does the opposite of that. That’s one of the reasons why I think he’s unfit for office.”

Ryan also said the reason Republicans haven’t taken on entitlement reform or the nation’s debt in a serious way is because of populism related to the rise of Donald Trump, he said.

“In the Trump party, they’re not talking about debt reduction, they’re not talking about tackling these challenges. So I saw something missing in our party, which was a drive and a goal and a plan to get our debt under control,” he said, which led him to write a book with other American Enterprise Institute scholars on ways to tackle debt and entitlement reform, while addressing poverty at the same time. 

Deseret News / More

September 27, 2023

Recap: At UW-Madison's La Follette School of Public Affairs, Paul Ryan talks Politics and Policy

On September 26th, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan spoke at UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs about a wide range of topics including a possible government shutdown, the AEI-published American Renewal, fiscal policy, reducing polarization, fighting poverty in an evidence-based way, and the 2024 elections. A recap featuring videos and articles from the event follows.   

Quick Clips:

-          Video: On the 2024 elections

-          Video: On a possible government shutdown  

-          Video: On his optimism about the future

-          Video: On a conservative approach to decarbonizing  

Associated Press: Former Speaker Paul Ryan says Republicans will lose if Donald Trump is nominee

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday that Republicans will lose the presidential election if Donald Trump is the nominee and that he expects hard-right followers of Trump to force a government shutdown within days.

Ryan, who left office in 2019 and had a sometimes contentious relationship with Trump, said he hoped that another Republican nominee would gain enough momentum early next year to overtake Trump after the first primaries. Ryan represented southeastern Wisconsin in Congress for 20 years, the last four as speaker.

“The party that puts the first fresh face forward wins this election,” Ryan said at an event on the University of Wisconsin campus organized by the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs.

If the race is between Trump and President Joe Biden, Ryan said, “I think Biden wins.”

“I think leaders should endeavor to be honest, ethical, moral people who try to set standards for themselves and lead by example across the country,” Ryan said. “Donald Trump doesn’t try to do any of that. He does the opposite, frankly. So I just don’t think he’s fit for the job here.” 

Ryan said in the small number of swing states, including Wisconsin, the election will come down to winning over suburban voters.

“Do you think those suburban voters like Donald Trump more since Jan. 6?” Ryan said. “I mean, good grief. They didn’t vote for him this last time, they’re not going to vote for him again.”

Cap Times: Ryan predicts government shutdown, hits Trump at UW event

Former U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said he has a “hard time seeing” how Congress averts a government shutdown, calling hard-right resistance to a spending deal nothing more than “nihilism.” 

The Republican former congressman spoke during an event Tuesday hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s LaFollette School of Public Affairs, as lawmakers in Washington have until Saturday to reach a budget agreement, with no deal in sight.

"I have a hard time seeing how {McCarthy} gets out of this without a shutdown," Ryan said

He quipped that the two people he feels sorry for the most are “Aaron Rodgers and Kevin McCarthy.” 

“There's just a small handful of members,” Ryan said. “I think they think they win by losing. I think they win under any scenario. … We look like fools, we look like we can’t govern….”

He urged GOP primary voters to elect any of the other primary candidates — except “that Vivek guy,” a reference to political newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy. Ryan called on candidates to take steps to ensure Trump is not the nominee.

“Before Super Tuesday, if we got somebody that's showing some momentum ... my hope and prayer is that the rest of the field gets the heck out," he said. 

WKOW: 'We lose with this guy': Paul Ryan talks about Trump and the possible government shutdown

Paul Ryan isn't in office, and he's not running for any position, but he's still an engaged Republican. Tuesday night, he spoke for around an hour at UW-Madison, sharing his thoughts on politics today and public policy.

In a conversation with Susan Webb Yackee, the director of UW-Madison's La Follette School of Public Affairs, Ryan covered a range of topics, including the 2024 presidential race, his ideas for tackling climate change, the possible government shutdown and his optimism for the future.

"We lose with this guy," he said. "If it’s Biden/Trump, I think Biden wins. I personally would rather not see that. I would rather see a Republican win not named Donald Trump."

Ryan said he favors candidates like Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Mike Pence and Ron DeSantis. "If any one of them gets the nomination, I think they win the presidency," Ryan said.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 'It can't get any worse': Paul Ryan laments state of GOP under Trump but remains 'bullish' on future

Paul Ryan sees a country on the rocks — divided by cults of personality, "unserious" politics and policy choices driven by "nihilism" — but he's still "bullish" on the future of the United States. 

Ryan is currently a professor of the practice at the University of Notre Dame and a visiting fellow in public policy at the American Enterprise Institute. He launched the nonprofit American Idea Foundation in 2019, which aims to "demonstrate that it is the bottom-up dynamism of individuals and communities that truly makes America a land of opportunity and prosperity."…

Despite the political turmoil he observes, Ryan said he remains optimistic. "It can’t get worse," he deadpanned. "So, there’s that."

"I think what happens in our country is, things are so intractable, and then they break, and then they get fixed," he said .

Democracy is being tested, Ryan said, "from within and from without." The external threats are evident, he said, but breaking through the internal polarization is necessary to move forward.

Asked how he would advise young people to facilitate conversations across ideological divides, Ryan said he would first urge them to spend less time engaging with social media that reinforce their existing biases. 

"Get out of your cocoon, spend time with people who do not look or think like you, and do not impugn people’s motives," Ryan said, and focus on facts and principles rather than emotion and division.

"You have two ears and one mouth," he said. "Use them in that proportion."

Badger Herald: Ryan visits UW to discuss public policy

Ryan visited the University of Wisconsin to discuss public policy on Tuesday. The discussion focused on bipartisanship, which Ryan said is necessary in leadership and legislation to make evidence-based policy decisions to benefit the country.

“If you get us past the ideological stalemates, this partisan bitterness, we can have a debate on facts using economics, control trials, data and analytics,” Ryan said. “Then we can forget about all the name calling, all the ideological warfare, and just focus on what works and what doesn’t. 

Ryan emphasized the importance of evidence-based policy, particularly in today’s political climate, explaining how this method of evidence-based policy could be used to improve federal poverty policy and entitlement reform.

“With digital technology, the right incentive structures and experimentation at the local and state level and getting the public and private sector involved, getting charities involved more in a better-integrated way, I really it moves the needle on upward mobility in America,” Ryan said.

September 17, 2023

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Zito: Real solutions need Real principles, according to Paul Ryan

I spoke with Mr. Ryan while he was visiting Brigid’s Path, the first in-patient newborn recovery center in Ohio. Some of his critics mistake his quiet demeanor for aloofness. But those who have interacted with him realize his demeanor is a direct result of a man determined to conduct a life of purpose. He would agree that his choices haven’t always been perfect, but that doesn’t stop him from trying to continue to get it right.

Part — but not all — of the populism running through the Republican Party right now is populism without a principle, he said. “It’s wrapped around a personality.”

There has to be principle — which brings us back to Brigid’s Path. It’s a cheerfully-painted but unassuming building so fully surrounded by an industrial park that it is easy to miss. 

The first thing Mr. Ryan heard as he walked into the lobby were the gentle sounds of babies — lots of babies. The Janesville, Wis., native and father of three smiled broadly and headed toward the rooms where nurses were cuddling and monitoring newborns suffering from neonatal abstinence syndrome, which is a result of babies having been exposed to drugs prior to birth. 

Mr. Ryan spent several hours touring the facility with local community leaders and Ohio U.S. Reps. Mike Turner and Brad Wenstrup, as they discussed the facility’s impact serving young mothers — and their infants — caught in the rising tide of opioid addiction. Sitting in the conference room at Brigid’s Place, Mr. Ryan was dressed casually, with comfortable shoes — no tie, no entourage.

Mr. Ryan was visibly moved by the infants he saw and had a powerful back-and-forth with a mother during a roundtable with stakeholders after the tour. Accompanied by her precocious and now healthy 18-month-old daughter, the mother candidly discussed her journey from addiction, to prison, to bringing her then-infant here 18 months ago.

Her answers to Mr. Ryan’s questions were so raw and frank that a pin drop would have shattered the hush.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette / More

September 8, 2023

Dayton Daily News: Legislators visit Brigid’s Path to study model

Legislators joined former U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan at Brigid’s Path on Wednesday as Ryan’s American Idea Foundation donated $50,000 to the newborn recovery center and visitors learned more about the center’s work at a roundtable with staff members.

“Having Paul Ryan look nationally for models and to find one right here is certainly a credit to our community,” said U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton.

Ryan noted Turner’s support for the passing of the Caring Recovery for Infants and Babies Act, or CRIB Act. The act passed in 2018 and allowed Medicaid to cover certain health care services provided to infants in residential pediatric recovery facilities and hospitals. Centers like Brigid’s Path were previously not eligible to receive Medicaid reimbursement.

“I’m going across America looking for really successful poverty-fighting programs that can be measured and scaled and replicated across the country,” Ryan said. “So I’m here in Kettering to learn about Brigid’s Path, which is doing enormous work in making a difference in babies who are born with addictions….”

“What a beautiful thing to see people stepping up and doing this on their own and then working with government entities so that we have success,” said U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Cincinnati, on Wednesday.

The American Idea Foundation learned of Brigid’s Path through the Stand Together Foundation, a nonprofit that supports other entities that address poverty, Ryan said. The foundation also hopes to help replicate what Brigid’s Path is doing.

“We see here a program that has already proven to work, and what we want to do is do more measurement of what Brigid’s Path does and how it succeeds, so that we can track that progress and then tell the story so that we can replicate the success,” Ryan said.

Dayton Daily News / More

June 28, 2023

CNBC: Ryan: “Biden moving us closer to a debt crisis”

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan joined CNBC’s 'Squawk Box' to discuss the state of the U.S. economy, whether 'Bidenomics' is working, the Fed's inflation fight, and more.

Now a partner at private equity firm Solamere Capital, Ryan on Wednesday slammed Biden’s economic record and blamed him for high U.S. inflation ahead of what the White House said will be a major speech on the economy.

The major spending bill that Biden championed early in his term as a necessary step to revitalize a Covid-damaged economy “hit the gas pedal on inflation,” Ryan said. “Clearly all this spending hurt inflation.”

Ryan said he expected “nice rhetoric” and “well-massaged statistics” from Biden’s upcoming speech. “But it’s going to be just another industrial policy play. And this is the stuff that gets you lost decades,” he said.

“If you want to run capitalism through government like China does, I don’t think we’re going to win that bidding war,” he added….

Ryan also took a shot at both Trump and Biden for “promising not to reform entitlements.”

“We have these leaders who are saying, ‘I am not going to do anything to stop the debt crisis in this country,’” Ryan said, arguing that the president is “courting disaster in that front.”

CNBC / More

June 13, 2023

CBS News: Ryan: Trump's "baggage" makes him "unelectable," indictment goes beyond "petty" politics

While some Republicans have shown support for former President Donald Trump as he faces 37 felony charges related to his handling of classified documents, former House Speaker Paul Ryan believes Trump's indictment is a significant matter that goes beyond politics….

Ryan noted the indictment is related to matters of national security.

 "I used to have the same documents myself as Speaker of the House," Ryan said. "So I think this goes beyond just some petty thing." 

Ryan added that he is "not a Trump fan," and said that when it comes to the 2024 presidential race, "we want a nominee who is not weighed down by so much baggage in order to win this election." 

"I want to win," he said. "And if we nominate Trump, we're gonna lose."

Ryan questioned Trump's appeal to suburban voters and his ability to secure swing states like Wisconsin, which he lost in the 2020 race. Ryan also said events like the Jan. 6 Capitol riot could discourage swing voters from supporting the former president.

"I think the electability argument is going to become more salient with this indictment and whatever happens in the future. All the exhaustion of all the Trump baggage is going to make it easier now, I think, to make the argument to his core supporters: he's not electable, he's gonna cost us the Senate again, he's gonna cost us more House seats," Ryan said….

As for campaign strategy, Ryan noted Christie's direct attacks on Trump and said, "I don't think you can get this nomination without going through Donald Trump. I don't think you can get it going around him. You have to go through him to get the nomination. Chris is unique in his style, but I think the others will start making that kind of push." 

CBS News / More

May 17, 2023

The Hill: Ryan’s official Speaker portrait unveiled at the Capitol

The official portrait of former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) was unveiled at the Capitol on Wednesday in front of a crowd of congressional heavy hitters, including current and former Speakers.

Speaking at the event, Ryan, who served as Speaker from 2015 to 2019, reflected on some of his proudest legislative achievements. He said the tax cuts Republicans passed in 2017 were his “white whale.”

“We fixed the VA (Department of Veterans Affairs), we dealt with opioid addiction, we funded cancer research, we rethought how to better fight the war on poverty,” Ryan said of his time as Speaker. “And we reformed our tax code for the first time in a generation.”

Ryan said the other “white whales” that got away from him were immigration reform and dealing with the nation’s debt.

“If and when we fix that — and I do urge you to fix that — I’m confident that America will be assured of another great century,” Ryan said to the crowd, which included current lawmakers, alluding to the ongoing debt ceiling talks.

The Hill / More

May 17, 2023

Spectrum News: Paul Ryan's official portrait unveiled at the Capitol

The official portrait of former speaker Paul Ryan was unveiled on Wednesday. The painting of the House’s 54th speaker will hang in the Speaker’s Lobby and Members’ Retiring Room.

His decades of public service were celebrated by congressional leaders, providing a rare moment of bipartisanship in a very divided Capitol…

“It was clear to pretty much everyone around that Paul was the right man at the right moment,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said during the event.“It was clear to pretty much everyone around that Paul was the right man at the right moment,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said during the event….

The fiscal conservative hawk then achieved his biggest lift: pushing then-President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and jobs act through the House.

“I’ve always been a policy guy, particularly when it comes to the tax code,” said Ryan during the ceremony. “So this was like a mountain climber reaching the top of Mount Everest. It was everything I had been working toward. And I finally got it.”

Spectrum News/ More

May 17, 2023

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ryan's Speaker portrait is unveiled with bipartisan accolades for his tenure in Congress

It was a reunion in Statuary Hall Wednesday afternoon as congressional leaders past and present from both parties gathered to celebrate former Speaker Paul Ryan with a portrait recognizing his four years leading the House.

Former speakers Newt Gingrich, John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi sat in the front row during the ceremony for the man who represented Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District for 20 years. Wisconsin’s current congressional delegation was also in attendance, and colleagues and former staffers for Ryan were scattered throughout the room.

It was a reunion in Statuary Hall Wednesday afternoon as congressional leaders past and present from both parties gathered to celebrate former Speaker Paul Ryan with a portrait recognizing his four years leading the House.

Former speakers Newt Gingrich, John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi sat in the front row during the ceremony for the man who represented Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District for 20 years. Wisconsin’s current congressional delegation was also in attendance, and colleagues and former staffers for Ryan were scattered throughout the room….

“My entire career has been spent working in and around the Capitol Dome. I will always revere these hallowed grounds…” Ryan said. “I will always look back on my time serving the people of Wisconsin and leading the House of Representatives with love and appreciation.”

He added: “Only in America would it be possible for a kid from Janesville to go from an intern to the Speaker of the House. Only in America would I be surrounded by such an amazing roomful of people who helped make it all possible.”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / More

March 3, 2023

New York Times Magazine: Paul Ryan says even MAGA Diehards believe Trump can’t win in 2024

In an interview with the New York Times Magazine’s David Marchese, former Speaker Paul Ryan discussed the evolution of the Republican Party, his recently published book American Renewal, and the need for an optimistic, forward-looking policy agenda to solve our nation’s biggest challenges. Excerpts of Marchese’s interview with Ryan follow.

Marchese: I just read your old book “The Way Forward,” and in it you’re saying that the Republican Party needs to be more than just a party of opposition. That was in 2014. Do you have reason to believe the party of today is any closer to where you’d like it to be? 

Ryan: No, you’re right, it isn’t the case. Politics is supposed to be about ideas, principles and policies, and it should be aspirational and optimistic. We’ve gone in the opposite direction. Politics has become more performance art than persuasion. My side of the aisle, the people who do well these days are the people who do culture-war politics. Culture-war politics can get you your vote coalition, but it requires that you play identity politics, and identity politics is immoral. It is by definition divisive. If you can divide an electorate so that you get 50-plus-1 percent, you can win an election, but the other 49 percent hate you, and it’s not how I think democracies will survive in the 21st century. It makes it harder for our politics to be unifying. But I think there are mechanisms to society that will get us back there.

Marchese: Like what kind of mechanisms? 

Ryan: I think we’re coming to a time of polarization fatigue, of problems mounting and not getting solved, and voters are going to eventually reward problem solvers. If you’re a Trump 2.0, a culture warrior, and get the passion of the base to win your party’s nomination — it’s thin gruel from a substance standpoint. I’d like to think that people can be a Reagan 2.0. An aspirational, inclusive and unifying figure who’s not afraid to take on policy challenges with serious solutions and work hard at persuading people. I hope that’s where it’s going. That is not where it is today.

**

Marchese: You’ve talked elsewhere about the need for the Republican presidential primary field to stay small so that the vote doesn’t split and then Trump wins. But beyond “not Trump,” is there a person whom you’d like to see support consolidate behind? 

Ryan: Too early to say. The key is that we consolidate the field in time. I don’t think you can prevent people from getting in the race. What the party donors and influencers can do is whittle the field down faster: “You got 6 percent in Iowa. You got 8 percent in New Hampshire. Get out of this race.” But I don’t think Trump is going to get the nomination. The ace in the hole reason is that he’s unelectable. Even most of MAGA knows this. We’re far better with X person.

Marchese: You’re on the board at Fox, which has had more than a little to do with amplifying the performance-art politics that you say is a problem. I understand a point you’ve made in other interviews, which is the pluralistic need for private media companies to serve different markets, but are there ways in which the symbiotic nature of Fox News and Republican politics could function differently so the result is healthier discourse? 

Ryan: I do hope for that, and I think about that a lot. One of the reasons why I chose to be on this board is because I believe you have to have a strong enough commercial cultural institution in society to stand up against a left-wing takeover. That means people like me need to fight for the soul of our party. I don’t agree with a lot of the editorial guys. I don’t believe in this blood-and-soil nationalism. I think it’s dangerous. I am a traditional, classic liberal, pro-life, strong national defense, free-market conservative, which means constitutional limited government. The question is, can we compete for better content and offer a better version of conservatism? I don’t take my toys and go away and say, I think Tucker was wrong. It’s free competition for ideas. I believe at the end of the day people want substance. Anger-tainment only goes so far.

Marchese: If you were in Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s position, how would you be strategizing about how to get anything done? Because wrangling this Republican caucus seems hellacious….

Ryan: To be good at these jobs, you’ve got to be willing to lose these jobs, and Kevin’s going to face moments like that. You’re going to have blow-ups: the debt limit and the fiscal-year appropriation bills. They’ll get through, crisis will be averted. But after that there’s an opportunity to help shape the presidential election. Get your party focusing on ideas and policies and offering it to the country. Do it before a nominee arrives, so that if we win that election, we have shown the country what our solutions look like. But that’s going to take real leadership, real ideas, real plans, and you’ll have to get past the demagoguery that is dominating the debate these days.

Marchese: Is entitlement reform remotely politically feasible? Both McCarthy and McConnell have said they’re not touching it. 

Ryan: Kevin, I think, was saying this in the context of the debt limit. You don’t use some brinksmanship moment to reform Medicare and Social Security. I assume Mitch was talking about this Rick Scott bill that’s not even really a bill.

 It’s a process thing that doesn’t make any sense. Mitch is trying to make sure that that doesn’t define us. They’re right to say that’s not the context for entitlement reform. But what the majority should do is educate constituents about these problems and then offer solutions. Biden and Trump are not acting presidential on one of the most important issues facing our country, our debt crisis, and the unraveling of our social contract. The smart move is to offer solutions. That’s why we wrote this book at A.E.I.

 This is a conservative’s version on how to solve this problem, and I grant that people aren’t all going to agree with these things, but they should bring their own solutions to the table.

 New York Times Magazine / More

March 9, 2023

Bloomberg: Ryan says to expect a “bumpy ride” to a debt limit deal 

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan predicts that US lawmakers will reach a deal on raising the federal debt limit, but signaled investors should brace for a “bumpy” ride until that happens.

Speaking on Bloomberg TV, Ryan said he expects brinkmanship on the debt ceiling as President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans haggle — perhaps even a few days beyond the “X-date,” when the Treasury Department won’t have enough funds to meet all federal obligations. 

But, the Republican said, ultimately, the two sides will come to an agreement. 

“Stay cool, we’re going to make good on our bonds,” Ryan said. He added that fiscal reforms are crucial, and that “at the end of the day, we’re going to have to get serious about our debt crisis….” 

His predictions come the same day Biden is set to unveil his budget proposal — which includes spending increases, suggesting the two sides are headed into debt-ceiling negotiations far apart.  

Ryan also said it will be difficult for the Federal Reserve to get inflation down without a recession, but that it has “no choice” but to raise interest rates. 

“My guess is you’ll probably won’t to get out of this without a recession — get out of this being getting to 2% inflation,” he said. “It’s going to take a long time. Longer than people thought and hoped.”

Asked about who will be the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, Ryan said it’s too early to say, but that “I think it’s going to be somebody not named Donald Trump.” 

Bloomberg / More

February 24, 2023

WISN: On Upfront, Ryan shares thoughts on the debt ceiling, saving entitlement programs & the 2024 Republican National Convention 

In an interview with WISN’s Matt Smith for Upfront, former Speaker Paul Ryan talked about his visit to UWM to discuss the AEI-produced book American Renewal, his disinterest in attending the 2024 RNC if Trump is the nominee,  and his relationship with Speaker Kevin McCarthy. On entitlements, Ryan said:

“The current debate is awful. It is not serving anybody and what troubles me most is the current President and the last President are demagoguing this issue. What happens when you try to scare people with reckless rhetoric is we have bankruptcy and then these programs get cut for the current seniors. Let's not forget Medicare and Social Security go insolvent in a decade which will mean cuts to these programs and which will lead to a debt crisis. 

“The smart thing to do, knowing that is coming, is to step ahead of the problem, reform the programs so they can keep the promises [to current seniors], and be there for the next generation and avoid a debt crisis…. I passed four budgets in Congress and we lived to tell about it. You can propose reforms and you can vote on these reforms and politically survive. The problem is a lot of people lost that lesson…. [You can] keep the programs like they're working today for those in or near retirement but for those 60 years old and below, you have to change your programs because they will be bankrupt by the time we retire.”

WISN / More

February 23, 2023

WITI: Ryan: If Trump is GOP presidential nominee, 'we are going to lose'

Former Speaker Paul Ryan is warning Republicans they’ll lose if they nominate Donald Trump for president. In a new interview with FOX6, Ryan also defended his call for changes to Medicare and Social Security. Ryan was in Milwaukee Thursday, Feb. 23 to speak at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and to talk about the new book he edited, "American Renewal….” 

Ryan also defended some of the arguments laid out in a new book he edited. "American Renewal" lays out a conservative vision for the future, including changes for Medicare and Social Security….

"Every one of these proposals says don't make changes to people who are in or near retirement presently. But, you need to make changes for those of us in the younger generation for two reasons: So that we don't go bankrupt as a country, and these programs exist for them; but also, so you can cash flow the current promises to current seniors.

"The dangerous rhetoric that we're seeing right now in Washington by both Presidents Biden and Trump is this demagoguery saying don't touch these programs. With that, the other way of saying that is: ‘Let them go bankrupt and watch current seniors get hurt.’ Remember, within a decade, both Medicare and Social Security go insolvent."

"So, that's why we're saying let's get ahead of this problem. Let's reform these programs so that they work better so that they're solvent, so that we can keep the promises that have already been made to current seniors," Ryan added. "The problem is that took me three or four sentences. It wasn't as easy as demagoguing entitlement reform, which is what our current and former president are doing. It's reckless. It's the opposite of leadership. And my point is, we need to step ahead of this problem as a country, guarantee these benefits for current seniors and reform these programs, so they don't go bankrupt."

Fox 6 / More

February 22, 2023

Washington Post: Ryan says Biden, Trump put country at risk by swearing off changes to Medicare, Social Security

Former House speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) accused both President Biden and former president Donald Trump of putting the country at financial risk by swearing off making changes to Medicare and Social Security.

“Biden and Trump — and I lump them in the same sentence — Biden and Trump are doing the opposite of leadership,” Ryan said in an interview Tuesday. “They’re trying to scare people, and they’re playing political demagoguery with one of the most important issues facing our country this century….”

Ryan said he was frustrated that some of his fellow Republicans were walking away from an issue that they rallied around during his time as a top-ranking member of the House.

“Do I think our party has done some backsliding? Yes, because of Trump populism,” Ryan said in a telephone interview. “But I still believe there’s a very big core in our party that understands the magnitude of this issue, wants to be responsible and fix this problem before it gets ugly and out of control….”

Ryan said Republicans and Democrats need to address the cost of Medicare and Social Security now because the fiscal problem will become more difficult to solve as time passes. He said Republicans should not fear the issue because they survived politically when House Republicans passed his budget proposals.

“I think what happened in my party is people got intimidated by the politics. And Trump, who has chosen to engage in demagogic entitlement populism, has led a lot of people away from being responsible and from doing the right thing,” he said. “And the consequence of that, much like Biden’s politics, is to push us closer to bankruptcy.”

Washington Post / More

February 3, 2023

MJS: Ryan says he would not back Trump, if ex-president is GOP's 2024 nominee

Former U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan is doubling down on his belief that former President Donald Trump is the wrong choice for Republicans in 2024, saying he would not support Trump if he becomes the Republican nominee for president. 

“There are too many people like me in the Republican Party who would not support him if he were the nominee, and that is why I don’t think he’ll be the nominee,” Ryan told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in an interview. “Because everyone knows we’ll lose the election if we nominate this guy again.”

The Janesville Republican has been increasingly outspoken in his opposition to Trump in recent months, and his comments Thursday came as a number of prominent Republicans consider 2024 challenges to the former president, who remains the sole Republican to declare his candidacy for president. 

But Ryan’s comments also land at a time when the former speaker has emerged from several years away from government — he retired from Congress in 2018 — to present a fresh vision for Republicans that focuses on fiscal reform. In the interview, he weighed in on the race for president in 2024, the current debate over the debt ceiling and the future of the Republican Party.

“Our politics have been so unserious lately that I believe that we need to get back to debating ideas and policies that rise to the moment,” said Ryan, who was elected to serve Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District in 1998.

“The Republican Party is going through a moment where it has to redefine itself,” he added later. “And the question is whether it's going to redefine itself around a personality or around a set of principles and ideas.”

***

Ryan’s new book with the Washington think tank the American Enterprise Institute, "American Renewal: A Conservative Plan to Strengthen the Social Contract and Save the Nation's Finances,” attempts to address entitlement program reform in part through restructuring how Social Security is paid and looking into foreign retirement programs. It considers Australia’s retirement program, which combines a means-tested benefit with a requirement that full-time private sector workers save for their own retirement. 

***

Still, Ryan agreed with Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision not to include entitlement reforms in ongoing debt ceiling negotiations on Capitol Hill, saying changes to programs like Social Security and Medicare need “longer, sustained conversation.” 

He said the negotiations — Republicans are demanding spending cuts in exchange for voting to raise the borrowing limit — are “putting much needed attention on our fiscal problems” but noted brinkmanship “only goes so far.”

“I don’t really see this as the end-all-be-all,” Ryan said of the negotiations, adding that he does not think the U.S. will default on its payments. “It’s going to be a moment that’s going to come, it’s going to educate the public that we have a fiscal problem — that’s good. Hopefully some good fiscal policy will result from this moment, but the real heavy work will remain getting ahead of our debt crisis.”

***

“We can have a prosperous country and a debt-free future. We can reinvent upward mobility and reinvent the American idea for the 21st century if we get the right policies in place,” Ryan told the Journal Sentinel. “And I don't think we'll accomplish that if we stick with a personality based populism that has proven now for three election cycles to lose us elections.”

When asked how Republicans will move past Trump, Ryan responded: “I think people will move past him because we want to win. The evidence is inescapable that we just lose elections with Trump. And I think even diehard Trump supporters know this.”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / More

January 13, 2023

CNN: Ryan says he ‘had too much power’ as House speaker

Former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday that he believes he “had too much power” when he wielded the gavel.

“I think I had too much power as speaker,” Ryan told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead,” adding that what bothered him “most” were omnibus bills – massive spending packages that are put to a single vote rather than individual appropriations measures voted on separately.

“The problem is, no four people should be doing all of that, making those decisions,” Ryan added, referring to House leadership at the time. “I was making decisions on composition of spending bills.”

***

Ryan, though, warned against some members potentially looking to take advantage of that concession, recalling advice former House Speaker John Boehner gave him upon winning the gavel in 2015.

“The last thing John Boehner – the last words John Boehner said to me as he walked out of the room of his smoke filled office that I took over – don’t forget your number one job is to preserve the institution, defend the institution,” Ryan said.

“I never really thought most members don’t think about the institution,” he added.

Weighing in on the current state of the Republican Party, Ryan on Thursday joined the chorus of those calling for freshman Republican Rep. George Santos’ resignation after he admitted to lying about parts of his resume. Santos has so far been defiant, pushing back on calls for his resignation, and House GOP leadership has not called on him to do so.

“It’s a fraudulent candidacy – this isn’t an embellished candidacy, it’s a fraudulent candidacy. He hoaxed his voters, so of course he should step down,” Ryan told Tapper.

CNN // More  

January 13, 2023

Semafor:  Ryan sounds off on the McCarthy drama and coming debt ceiling fight

In an interview with Semafor’s Joseph Zeballos-Roig discussed the House electing Kevin McCarthy as Speaker, the coming debt ceiling fight, and American Renewal: A conservative plan to strengthen the social contract and save the country's finances. Excerpts of Ryan’s Q&A with Semafor follow. The full interview is accessible here.

Semafor: Speaker McCarthy just got through a very difficult vote. What are your expectations for his term as speaker? Do you think he and the Republican caucus can still be effective with this narrow majority?

Paul Ryan: I do. I think there are going to be areas where you find a bipartisan consensus. The China committee is just a perfect example. Ukraine is another one. Then there are going to be messaging bills. They just did that with the IRS bill. You're gonna have brinksmanship on a couple of these fiscal deadline-driven issues. It won't be pretty, but they'll get dealt with. And then the question is, after all this brinksmanship, can they get into a stride where they're building a coherent vision to take to the country so that the country is given a good clear choice in 2024….

Semafor: Are you more anxious now about the potential for a debt ceiling showdown to get out of hand compared to the past?

Paul Ryan: No, I’m really not worried about default. I think there are going to be a lot of fireworks. A lot of brinksmanship. I think it’s going to be a movie we’ve seen before. At the end of the day I’m not worried about our full faith and credit and I’m not worried about default. 

Semafor // More  

January 1, 2023

Washington Examiner: Ryan back where he started with new book and crusade to reform government programs

Paul Ryan has come full circle.

Before the former congressman was the speaker of the House of Representatives, before he was the Republican nominee for vice president, before he was chairman of the House Budget Committee, he was an unknown and lonely voice in the wilderness from Janesville, Wisconsin, pushing Washington to adopt wholesale reform of popular social safety net programs — entitlement programs — like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Ryan, 52, is no longer an unknown political figure.

But he’s once again that lonely Republican voice pushing Congress and the White House to approve major legislation to put the three most popular social safety net programs in the United States on sustainable fiscal footing. And as he did all those years ago, Ryan is warning the bill for keeping these entitlements afloat will eventually come due in the form of a debt crisis with disastrous economic consequences for everyone….

“The way I look at leadership is: Leaders move the polls. They don’t follow the polls. Leaders don’t just follow populism — they try to look at serious problems facing the country and offer solutions to it and then try to get people to understand and then agree with those solutions,” Ryan told the Washington Examiner during a recent interview….

Ryan has been making the media rounds to discuss American Renewal: A Conservative Plan to Strengthen the Social Contract & Save the Nation’s Finances, the new book he co-authored with colleagues at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank where he is a visiting fellow focused on public policy.

American Renewal touches on much more than Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. It examines government spending from top to bottom and devotes a great deal of energy to monetary policy and preserving the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency. But it is proposals to alter popular entitlement programs that are sure to throw a political monkey wrench into any effort to take up the advice laid out in Ryan’s book….

For a time, Ryan managed to transform a third-rail political issue into legislation passed by a Republican-controlled House.

And as Ryan did so, his party repeatedly rewarded him. He was promoted to House Budget Committee chairman, House Ways and Means Committee chairman, vice presidential nominee, and House speaker. Ryan wasn’t even a member of House GOP leadership when he was tapped for the gavel — in large part because no other Republican could immediately command the support of a broad cross-section of the conference.

“I offered solutions like this and survived perfectly fine politically,” Ryan said.

These days, Ryan sports a busy resume. He is the founder of the nonpartisan, not-for-profit American Idea Foundation, a public policy organization. Among Ryan’s several corporate gigs, he is chairman of the board of directors of Executive Network Partnering Corporation, partner at Solamere Capital, and vice chairman of Teneo. Ryan teaches at Notre Dame and serves on the boards of both the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Amid all of this extrapolitical work, Ryan is still a large enough political figure that he is capable of fueling national headlines when he chooses to, as he did recently when asked to assess the state of the Republican Party vis-a-vis Trump….

“I was not a 'Never Trumper.' I’m grateful for the stuff we got done, and I’m grateful for the judges we have on the bench,” Ryan said. “But I’m a 'Never Again Trumper' because I want to win. And it’s really clear that swing voters in swing states don’t like Trump and won’t vote for him.”

Ryan is convinced Republican voters understand Trump is a liability in the general election after presiding over three consecutive disappointing elections for the GOP — in 2018, 2020, and 2022 — saying that whatever their personal affection for the former president, they are ready for a change.

Washington Examiner / More

November 23, 2022

Washington Post: Ryan on the GOP’s future: ‘We lose with Trump’

In an interview with KK Ottesen of the Washington Post Magazine, former Speaker Paul Ryan touched on the 2022 midterm elections, the future of the Republican Party, and his book, American Renewal. Excerpts of the interview follow. The full piece is accessible here.

The midterm election results were a surprise for many people. What’s your take on it all?

Well, I’m thankful we got the majority in the House, albeit much smaller than we should have or could have gotten. And we fell short of the Senate. I think the constant theme in this is: But for Trump, we would’ve had the Senate and a bigger House majority. It’s just another fresh set of evidence that we lose with Trump.

As you speak with people afterward, do you feel like this could be a good thing for the party?

Yeah, people are kind of afraid. Generally speaking, I think ambitious officeholders are worried that the Eye of Sauron will come after them and single them out if they criticize him. But you can only run a party through fear and intimidation for so long before it turns on you. And I think this fourth set of evidence — losing the House in 2018, losing the presidency in 2020, then right after that, losing the Senate in 2020, and now having this poor midterm performance — is more than enough evidence to know we need to turn the page and go to the next generation.

Do you feel pulled back into public service now?

It’s nice to be out of government. And I think my timing was pretty good for my family and for me. You know how I feel about Trump; there’s some estrangement there. So my timing was right. But when I retired, I decided I still wanted to keep a focus on public service and public policy, post-Congress. I’m very worried about whether or not America can get its politics together to become serious enough to tackle the main economic challenge facing our country…..

If you were back in the House right now, leading the majority, what sort of fiscal policy would you push on Day 1 to get the economy back on track?

Well, Day 1, I think, is to put in place reforms to our social contract and our safety net that keep them going. Basically, we spent the 20th century fighting each other over the mission of government, and in the 21st century I’d like to think that there is a reasonable consensus that we want a social contract, we want a social safety net, but we want upward mobility and fast economic growth. So I would start with the really big challenges like Medicare and Social Security and the other health-care entitlements and put reforms in place that are prospective, that are phased in, that put them on a sure financial footing and make them work better so they can better deliver on their missions….

Washington Post / More

November 20, 2022

ABC: Ryan talks “American Renewal,” the midterms, & the future of the GOP on This Week with George Stephanopoulos

This Sunday, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) sat down with Jon Karl for an interview on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos. During the wide-ranging conversation, Ryan discussed Speaker Pelosi stepping down, the takeaways from the 2022 midterms, the future of the Republican Party, and his recently released book: American Renewal: A Conservative Plan to Strengthen the Social Contract and Save the Nation's Finances.

Watch the entire interview here.

Some excerpts of Ryan’s responses follow and a recap of the interview, courtesy of ABC News, is accessible here.  

Ryan on the importance of “American Renewal”:

“I think there is some stuff there at DOJ and Hunter Biden that they probably should have some accountability and some investigations but that's not a substitute for an agenda.

“The purpose of putting out this book is to offer a conservative plan to help this country get over its enormous challenges in the 21st century. We have an unsustainable debt. We're on an unsustainable trajectory and if we don’t fix these problems soon, before a debt crisis, which you can never tell when that's going to happen, it’s going to get really ugly in this country.

“The social safety net and the social contract in America is something that we forged over debates over 100 years and I think we now have consensus in this country. We want health and retirement security for Americans. We want to see people get out of poverty and onto lives of self-sufficiency. But these 20th century programs were written and designed in a way that are proving unsustainable in the 21st century.

“This is what think tanks do. They look at the big picture and the long horizon and try to offer ideas to solve these problems and legislators work with think thanks to get around these problems. This is among the things that a new majority will have to do: Look at the problems America has been encountering and offer solutions to those problems before those problems get out of control.

“Can they chew gum and walk at the same time, have investigations, have oversight hearings, hold the Executive Branch to account and offer new ideas and solutions to our problems? Yes, that's what Congress is supposed to do.

Ryan on Speaker Pelosi's announcement:

“It's an impressive legacy. I mean, obviously, she and I usually disagree on things but [she’s] the first woman Speaker and [has] a career to be proud of. And frankly, I think about her husband, Paul, a lot these days. I just felt so awful about what happened to them. She has an incredible legacy and career to look back on.”

Ryan on the Trump-factor limiting a potential 'red wave':

“I personally think the evidence is really clear: The biggest factor was the Trump factor. Just look at how [Gov.] Chris Sununu ran ahead of [Don] Bolduc in New Hampshire. Look at where [Gov. Brian] Kemp ran ahead of Walker in Georgia.

“I think we would have clearly won the Senate had we had traditional Republicans in the general election like these Governors. I think we would have won in places like Arizona and places like Pennsylvania and New Hampshire had we had typical, traditional, conservative Republicans and not a Trump Republican.

“What we now know is pretty clear: With Trump, we lose. I don’t mean this personally, it’s just the evidence. We lost the House in 2018. We lost the Presidency in 2020. We lost the Senate in 2020. And now, in 2022, we should have and could have won the Senate. We didn’t and we have a much lower majority in the House because of that Trump factor. I think it's just palpable right now.

“If we get past Trump, we start winning elections. If we stick with Trump, we keep losing elections. That’s just how I see it.”

Ryan on Trump-backed candidates winning primaries but losing general elections:

“[Donald Trump] could get his candidates through the primaries but they can’t win general elections. If they could win general elections, we would have the majority of the Senate and a much bigger majority in the House. They can't win general elections and I think Republican voters see this.

“It’s why I don’t think he ends up with the nomination at the end of the day. I think we have a great stable of good, capable conservatives who are more than capable of winning this primary for the presidency and winning the [general] election and I think Republican voters know that.”

Ryan on the consequences of Trump winning the 2024 Republican nomination:

“We probably lose the White House. We just did in 2020. I think we probably lose the White House with Trump and if it is someone not named Trump, my guess is we win the White House.”

Ryan on being a Never-Again Trumper:

“I was not a Never Trumper. I governed with him and I’m proud of those days. I’m proud of the accomplishments: the tax reform, the deregulation, the criminal justice reform. I’m really excited about the judges we got on the bench, not just on the Supreme Court but throughout the judiciary. I am a never-again-Trumper because I want to win and we lose with Trump.”

Ryan on Leader McCarthy’s efforts to become Speaker of the House:

“I think he’ll get to 218 [votes]. If he doesn’t get 218, we have to elect a Speaker and there isn’t anyone better suited to run this conference than Kevin McCarthy. He's been good for conservatives, frankly. But he's also a person who really understands how to manage a conference.”

Ryan on running the House with a narrow majority:

“When I was Speaker, we had better majorities, bigger majorities and we could pass bills on our own but if you have such a narrow majority, it’s going to be really hard. Having said that, there’s nothing as unifying as a razor thin majority. That is a really unifying thing in and of itself.

“I’ve been in the House where we've had pretty tight majorities, not this tight. In the Hastert days, we had some really tight majorities and it does bring people together. It makes people realize that they can’t get everything I want and I have to be part of a team and I have to negotiate and compromise. But having said that, it’s going to be really hard day-in and day-out to consistently have only your party bringing votes.”

Ryan on Republicans’ ability to offer both a policy agenda & conduct effective oversight:

“I think there is some stuff there at DOJ and [with] Hunter Biden that they probably should have some accountability and some investigations [into] but that's not a substitute for an agenda.”

“The purpose of putting out this book is to offer a conservative plan to help this country get over its enormous challenges in the 21st century. We have an unsustainable debt. We're on an unsustainable debt  trajectory…. But we’re going to have to make these programs work better.

“We’re going to have to reform these programs so you and I and the X Generation and generations on down actually have something. That’s the kind of conversation we have to elevate our debate to in our federal and national politics. I think we can because America has always gotten it right at the end of the process, but it has to go through a lot of political machinations.”

Ryan on his present and his future: 

“I like doing it the way that I'm doing it now. I retired because I wanted to have a family life, [one] that I now finally have and [one] that I’m just really thankful for.

“I definitely am not running in 2024. I have Presidential-sized policy ambitions, but I really don’t have Presidential-sized personal ambitions so I just don’t see myself doing that.” 

November 18, 2022

Wall Street Journal: A Plan to Save America’s Finances by Paul Ryan

In advance of the American Enterprise Institute’s publication of American Renewal: A Conservative Plan to Strengthen the Social Contract & Save the Country's Finances, former Speaker Paul Ryan penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.  The full column is accessible here and excerpts follow.

“Americans voted for divided government last week. Democrats retained control of the Senate and Republicans look set to gain control of the House by the slimmest of margins. Neither party has a clear policy mandate. A partisan stalemate is likely to produce congressional investigations and fiscal brinkmanship. And the 2024 presidential campaign season has already begun. What we don’t see in our national politics is a serious discussion about the political and economic challenges the country faces.”

“The federal government is now making promises to citizens that it can’t keep. The social contract to help the neediest is at risk, as is the implicit promise of the American Dream—that each generation will have the chance to do better than the previous one.

“The bad news is that our politics are fundamentally unserious. The good news is that a fiscal crisis is still avoidable, but the window of opportunity to prevent it is closing.”

“We are not powerless. Holding off catastrophe is a matter of summoning the will. In American Renewal: A Conservative Plan to Strengthen the Social Contract & Save the Country's Finances, Angela Rachidi and I, along with 18 center-right scholars, outline how leaders can couple reforms to our social safety net with economic growth.” 

***

“The book provides concrete proposals for increasing competition in Medicare and customizing Medicaid so they can meet the needs of individual states’ populations. The plan calls for strengthening Social Security so it is there for current and future generations. It also provides stability for the Social Security Disability Insurance Trust Fund so we fulfill our promises to the most vulnerable members of society. It proposes solutions to our child welfare system, early childhood programs, and K-12 education, and acknowledges that we are failing to prepare America’s youth for the challenges of the 21st century. The proposal calls for making our tax code simpler and oriented toward growth and monetary policy that preserves the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.” 

“The plan provides a path out of our expected economic malaise so the U.S. can show the free world that democracy still can solve its great problems. It demonstrates that, with political courage, policy makers can increase federal spending more predictably and sustainably. That will stabilize the national debt at affordable levels, modernize the dollar, and demonstrate that we can run reliable, solvent health and retirement systems…”

***

“For centuries, the U.S. has shown the world what self-determining people can achieve. We built a society based on the consent of the governed that established a social contract to provide for citizens in times of need. But the policies and programs underpinning our social contract were mostly designed during the 20th century in ways that are proving unsustainable in the 21st century. 

“The fiscal challenges addressed in our book are a great test of American democracy. Ours is the first generation that may leave our children worse off than we are. If we do nothing, a fiscal and economic calamity awaits. If we stabilize our debt, revitalize our economy, and restore the promise of upward mobility, we can write a great chapter in the American story. This will require innovative policy ideas, political courage, and a commitment to serious politics.” 

Wall Street Journal / More

November 17, 2022

AEI: Ryan & Fellow Conservatives Offer Policy Blueprint to Save America’s Finances & Strengthen the Social Contract

This morning, Paul Ryan, former Speaker of the House of Representatives and distinguished visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Angela Rachidi, AEI senior fellow and Rowe Scholar, and 19 scholars published a book entitled: American Renewal: A Conservative Plan to Strengthen the Social Contract and Save the Country's Finances.  

Download American Renewal by clicking here.

The rationale for the book, in Ryan’s mind, was simple: America’s mediating institutions are fraying, our debt is soaring, and inflation is rising in the post-pandemic era. Now is the time for policymakers to act: They must renew the social contract and place our government programs on strong fiscal footing. 

The challenges ahead require a bold conservative vision for a healthy and prosperous America—a vision grounded in a clear understanding of the country’s current circumstances, a grasp of how America’s institutions can rise to meet its challenges, and an unwavering commitment to our founding ideals.  

The book presents a sweeping set of policy proposals that together offer a road map to reform America’s social safety net, the early care and K–12 education system, health and retirement security programs, the tax code, and our monetary system. The policies proposed in this book seek to magnify upward mobility, stabilize our health and retirement programs for future generations, grow the economy, and curb the looming debt crisis. 

As Ryan said in the book’s foreword: 

“America emerged from the 20th century as the world’s sole superpower, having achieved unprecedented strength and prosperity. Our constitutional republic created a miracle of human progress emulated throughout much of the world. Today, this great American triumph is facing enormous political and economic challenges, from without but also from within. 

“The system of self-governance we founded nearly 250 years ago is being challenged worldwide—by China’s repressive regime and other authoritarian strongholds. Totalitarianism, once thought to be consigned to history in the wake of the West’s victory in the Cold War, is back, competing for dominance in our digitized world. The digitally fueled polarization characterizing the free world invites the question of whether democracies can muster the durable political consensus to tackle the major challenges confronting our societies. 

“In this third decade of the 21st century, I believe America will face an inflection point. Our fiscal policy is on a collision course with our monetary policy, and the economic devastation resulting from a debt and currency crisis could inflict enormous, possibly irreparable, damage…

“The story of America is one of historic human accomplishment—but the future is not secured. The dollar’s dominance as the world’s reserve currency is in jeopardy of being displaced. Upward mobility is stalling—and in some cases reversing. The twin American ideas that the economic condition of one’s birth does not determine the outcome of one’s life and that each generation is better off than the past generation are no longer true for millions of Americans….

“America is facing a fiscal crisis entirely of its own making. All of this is well-known. All of this was predictable. All of this is avoidable. But we are where we are. And, today, our politics are fundamentally unserious. That’s the bad news. 

“The good news is that these problems are solvable. And we are not helpless or powerless before them. The solutions to these monumental challenges are achievable; it’s a matter of summoning the will….

“This book is a joint effort at offering solutions to America’s generational challenge. It is a plan to confront our main socioeconomic problems with specific, concrete, achievable policy solutions—ones that restore our social contract while avoiding a debt catastrophe. This needs to be done for us, and it especially needs to be done for future generations. The American idea needs defenders.”

Click here to download American Renewal: A Conservative Plan to Strengthen the Social Contract and Save the Country’s Finances.  

November 9, 2022

NBC-15: Fmr. House speaker Paul Ryan weighs in on election results, achievements of another Janesville alum

During an event in Janesville Wednesday, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Paul Ryan shared his perspective on the results of the 2022 Midterm Elections….

“I think we left a lot of seats on the table, frankly, because Trump is a drag on us,” said Ryan. “I think we could have done a much better job, we could’ve had better outcomes yesterday, but for that fact, but all in all, we should come away pretty happy with the results.”

Ryan says he is happy with Senator Ron Johnson’s win and expected a split ticket.

“Wisconsin split the ticket all of the time, I shared tens of thousands of votes with Russ Feingold over the days, for example, so Wisconsinites are sort of like that; their traditional ticket splitters, they vote for the person over the party, that is traditional Wisconsin and I think Wisconsin proved it again,” said Ryan.

But the former speaker of the House looked back at former President Donald Trump to explain how the national races finished.

“I think that we should all be able to as Republicans, collectively by now that we’re not going to do nearly as well as we would have because of Trump being involved or being the head of the party,” said Ryan. “I’m glad we won the house, I hope we win the senate, but in 2024, I think it’s really clear, we should win the White House if we have someone not named Trump at the top of the ticket.”

He also spoke about General Andrew Poppas, someone who grew up in Janesville together. On July 8, Poppas became the 24th commander of the United States Army Forces Command.

“I’m just happy that people here in Janesville get to see what one of their favorite sons, has been able to do with his life, Drew Poppas, and just the achievements to have for our country and the military, it’s really spectacular,” said Ryan. 

NBC-15 / More

November 7, 2022

CoinDesk: Ex-House Speaker, Former Justice Official Join US Policy Crew Assembled by Paradigm

Paul Ryan, the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, will join past leaders of both parties’ congressional campaign committees in a group formed by Paradigm in a bid to help shape the crypto policies coming out of Washington, company officials said.

The crypto venture-capital firm has been amping up its Washington presence this year, and Paradigm officials said this new policy council is meant to provide internal guidance as the midterm elections overhaul the political landscape. Next year is expected to mark the most important U.S. legislative moment for crypto to date, with Congress poised to move on stablecoins and potentially cementing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in place as the dominant regulator of crypto trading.

“Crypto – Web3 – has the advantage right now of being pre-partisan,” said council member Parker Poling, a partner at Harbinger Strategies. Poling was the executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee and was chief of staff to Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), who is widely expected to be chairman of the House Financial Services Committee next year. “People don't really have fully developed opinions and neural pathways about crypto….”

Ryan, who’d joined Gov. Mitt Romney’s ticket as the vice presidential candidate in 2012, will serve on the council with Steve Israel, a former Democratic congressman from New York who ran his party’s congressional campaign committee; Makan Delrahim, a former U.S. assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division; Chris Brummer, a Georgetown University professor who established DC Fintech Week; and current and former officials from the League of Conservation Voters, Electronic Frontier Foundation and National Bankers Association.

The group will meet at least once a month to hash out a gameplan to influence future crypto policies in the U.S., said Justin Slaughter, Paradigm’s policy director. On Nov. 16, Paradigm is also hosting a hands-on crypto education session for policymakers in Washington, where Ryan is set to appear.

CoinDesk / More

November 3, 2022

“Control”: Ryan on potential House GOP majority, the need for a policy vision, & threats faced by legislators

Earlier this week, Paul Ryan was the inaugural guest on “Control,” a podcast hosted by Seven Letter’s Brendan Buck and Annalyse Keller. During the interview, Ryan discussed the need for Republicans to advance a substantive policy agenda, Kevin McCarthy’s likely ascension to Speaker of the House, and the threats facing lawmakers in a polarized time. Excerpts of Ryan’s answers follow.  

On offering a clear policy agenda for America’s major 21st century challenges:

“At AEI, where I am a visiting fellow these days, we're coming out with a book, with about 19 other scholars, in a few weeks to show: Here's how you rebuild the social safety net; Here's how you rework the social contract to prevent a debt crisis, to balance the budget and pay off the debt, to preserve our reserve currency; here's how you rework our monetary system for the future; here's the new tax code wired for economic growth built on the successes we've already had.

“We're putting out a lot of that kind of content out in late November to try and get our party thinking about big ideas again, rising to the challenge, and trying to rediscover that muscle memory of policymaking.”

On the attack of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi:

“We have all gotten these kinds of threats. I get a ton of these kinds of threats and the fact that the guy got in the house is kind of mystifying to me and it’s just awful. I feel so bad for Paul. We know him. We like Paul and Nancy. We like their whole family. I can’t imagine, you know, how this makes them feel and how violated they feel.

“Our kids, I've got two in college, and they all called to discuss this because it really hit close to home. There are a lot of crazy people out there and now, they're taking action. And there's a thin line between these threats you get and then people actually taking action. And I think there's more of that now and it's just amazing how much this is on the rise. It's really a dark chapter in American politics.”

On how to channel the energy of a new House Republican majority:

“The question is: Can you channel this energy to good policymaking and good policy ends into a coherent majority that offers the country a coherent choice, or are we just going to be wrapped around the axle of culture wars? I think that's going to be kind of the question with this new majority.

“It’s exciting. I think 10 weeks ago, like in September and August, I was saying this could be a single-digit majority. Now, I think we're going to have a nice double-digit majority just based on trends. I used to say 15 to 25 seats. It now looks like 20 to 30 seats and it's a pretty good cushion but it’s going to be a lot of new people. The thing is, you have got to keep people busy. You have got to give people lots to do to keep them busy and going the right direction because if you don't do that, this majority can go any direction. 

“I think it's really important that they build a coherent thesis of what their majority is about, who does what, when, where, and how, and get everybody playing an important role toward a vision of what that majority looks like and what horizon we're shooting for. 

“The biggest mistake all new majorities in divided government make is they come in with a lot of promises and they think they can make good on all of these promises but in divided government, you can't. They end up over-promising and under-delivering and getting really upset. They upset their constituents and upset themselves, so I think it's really important that you set a baseline of expectations on what you can achieve in divided government knowing that the real prize is in 2025, winning the White House and Congress and passing into law the things you think are important for the country….

"The last thing the American people want to see is a new majority used as a tool for Trump’s vindictive campaign or vendetta. That’s not what a majority is for. A majority is for advancing the interests of the American people looking forward, not looking backward and settling some guy’s scores.”

On why Kevin McCarthy will be the next Speaker of the House:

“I think the majority cushion is going to be nice for him and he will need that to try and get the speakership. If you have a thin cushion, it's much harder. I think he's going to have a decent cushion and then, it’s much easier. But either way it goes, nobody knows the inside game better than Kevin McCarthy. I know people are frustrated with Kevin based on things he did or did not do for national reasons or for policy and political reasons. He's playing the inside game to win the vote for Speaker. He knows exactly how to do that. He is better at that than me and I wouldn't count him out because he really knows how members think and how they operate.” 

Control / More

November 2, 2022

The Street: Paul Ryan sees “solid investment” in Granite Ridge

In an interview with JD Durkin of The Street, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and CEO of Granite Ridge Resources, Luke Brandenberg, discuss the potential of the American energy sector and Granite Ridge Resources going public on the New York Stock Exchange….

J.D. DURKIN: Absolutely. Paul, you know, this is not frequently the environment under which a lot of companies are seeking to attach their names to the word ‘public.’ There's a lot of volatility out there, a lot of uncertainty between Fed tightening and fill in the blank here. Do you feel as if you are positioned maybe a bit differently from a lot of others.

PAUL RYAN: First of all, I like seeing a company going public. It's good for retail investors. What makes me excited about this particular deal and why we stuck it out with a SPAC is, I want retail investors to get access to deals like this. I want retail investors to get access to really good operators in American energy producing basins. So with this, you get access to great private operators in, say, the Permian Basin that you otherwise wouldn't get access to. That's good for retail investors. That's good for people, you know, their pension funds and their 401K’S. So to me, that's what is good and not just this deal, but that's what's good with a SPAC bringing somebody public that should go public. A lot of SPACs took companies probably in the past that may maybe not should have done that. This is one of those deals that is a solid investment, I feel really good about it. But more importantly, I like getting the retail investor access to this kind of investment, which they otherwise would not have the chance to. 

The Street / More

October 25, 2022

Fox Business: Ryan makes a 'good bet' on US oil and gas by backing domestic producer's SPAC deal

Executive Network Partnering Corporation Chairman and former U.S. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan discusses his investments in American oil exploration and his midterm election predictions in a wide-ranging interview on 'Varney & Co.'

“We’re producing more [fossil fuels. I think that’s a great bet. I’m a big believer in American-made oil and gas. I think the Biden Administration obviously has had terrible policies on this front. And look, American oil and gas is great for jobs, great for foreign policy, and great for bringing inflation down.

“What Granite Ridge is is it’s a non-operating oil and gas producer with access to all of the major American basins…. And it gives public investors access to private operators. We think it’s a great investment. It’s a scaled firm with a great management team, no debt, and free cash flow. So we’re very excited about this industry and we’ve very excited about it being publicly listed just this morning. We’re excited about the future of this company and it’s a good bet on American oil and gas.”

October 25, 2022

Axios: Paul Ryan sticks with SPACs

Paul Ryan entered the SPAC market in mid-2020, alongside a slew of other big names from the power corridors of politics, business and entertainment. The difference is that he's stuck around, while so many others ran for cover.

Driving the news: Ryan on Tuesday will help ring the New York Stock Exchange bell, as the SPAC he chairs completes its merger with portfolio assets of Grey Rock, a Dallas-based oil and gas private equity firm….

"Even prior to the SPAC market melting down, it felt there was a misalignment to how most SPACs were designed," Ryan tells me. "In a lot of them, the sponsors basically take economics on the day of the transaction and then walk away, which isn't a good alignment of interests... We wanted to do something more focused on long-term performance." 

“I still have same the same conviction that I did at the beginning, that there's a place in the world for SPACs, if the proper alignment is there, because they can help public investors get access to fast-growing private companies."

ENPC acquired a large portfolio of non-operated oil and gas assets from Grey Rock, located in five major U.S. basins. The resulting company will be called Granite Ridge Resources, and have a $1.2 billion enterprise value.

Granite Ridge is led by Luke Brandenberg, a veteran energy investor who has spent time with Grey Rock, EnCap and Vortus Investment Advisors.

Grey Rock will be majority shareholder following the merger, while Ryan and some other Solamere execs also will have equity stakes.

Axios / More

October 12, 2022

CNBC: Ryan on the perils of Biden’s economic policies & the real threat of a recession

On October 12th, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box to discuss President Biden’s failed efforts to tame high inflation and the Administration’s misguided fiscal policies.

Video of Ryan’s interview is available here and accessible below. Excerpts of Ryan’s responses follow.

“The problem with the Administration, in my opinion, is they are putting in place the exact wrong fiscal policy. They are doing the opposite of what they should be doing. They’re talking up tax increases. They tried to pass monumental tax increases. They’re over-regulating. They’re stimulating inflation. They’re pumping demand when they should be focusing on the supply-side and they’re not doing that.”

**

“The idea that we're going to raise taxes on businesses is a really bad idea. If we want to have fiscal policy help with the inflation problem and help prevent a recession, telling all the businesses in America that your taxes are going up, don’t take risks, don’t take investments, is a bad idea. And that’s exactly what the government is doing today.”

** 

“I think there are some things on the supply side that you can do to try and mop up inflation and take pressure off the Fed. Instead, the Fed is going to have to do it all on their own and as a result, I think we're going to go into recession.”

September 21, 2022

The Observer: Ryan criticizes inflation response: “We have the exact wrong fiscal policy”

Paul Ryan knew it was time to move on after 20 years in the House of Representatives. Two terms as the youngest speaker of the House since 1869 was enough for Ryan, who did not seek re-election in 2019.

“My last two terms were Speaker of the House, which is such a consuming job that it really took me away from my family so much more than I really wanted to be away,” Ryan said in an interview with The Observer. “I had three kids in or entering high school at the time, and I knew if I only saw my kids on Sundays, I just wasn’t going to have the kind of relationship I needed or wanted.”

Now, Ryan guest lectures at Notre Dame and serves on the board for the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO). Teaching at Notre Dame was appealing for Ryan after he left Capitol Hill, having grown up a Notre Dame fan in an Irish Catholic household that saw two of his brothers attend the University.

“I’ve been coming to games here since I was 10 years old,” he said.

In addition to teaching at Notre Dame, Ryan currently does additional policy work for the American Enterprise Institute, a public policy think tank. But after 20 years in public sector economics, Ryan made sure to branch out and learn how businesses “actually work and grow.” He is now a partner at Solamere Capital, a private equity firm, and also serves as vice chairman of Teneo, a CEO advisory firm. Upon his retirement from Congress, he launched an anti-poverty foundation in his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin.

“In Congress, I always thought it was important to do multiple things in your life,” Ryan said of his portfolio of enterprises.

Three years after he left Congress, Ryan said he does not miss the “performance politics” that are growing increasingly prominent. Instead of working to formulate and negotiate actual policy solutions, politicians today choose to “entertain” in the culture war in an attempt to get famous fast, he said.

“I agree with conservatives on the culture war, but I’m not a culture warrior. I don’t like inflaming [the] culture war because it just polarizes,” he said. “I do think you should take a stand against ridiculous, woke extremes, but I don’t think it’s great to try to politically profit off of these things, because all you end up doing is polarizing the country.”

***

Ryan said the economy is on the cusp of a recession. The federal government has been fueling inflation by spending, threatening businesses with higher taxes and raising taxes on businesses, he said.

“We have the exact wrong fiscal policy right now. This thing is not the Inflation Reduction Act, it’s sort of the opposite,” Ryan said of the package signed into law in August.

Although he said the Federal Reserve responded to the pandemic well, they were too late to respond to inflation, he added.

“They’re playing catch up. They were late. They should have been stopping the asset purchases earlier. Money supply was too high too fast for too long,” Ryan said.

***

While President Joe Biden currently mulls running for re-election in 2024, Ryan said Biden “missed the moment of being a centrist” during his term and has instead inflamed the polarization between the two parties. He explained that many Republican-leaning suburban voters voted for Biden because they disliked former President Donald Trump and expected Biden to govern from the center-left.

***

“Nothing is getting done that is substantial. No big problems are getting solved, and they just are trying to stick to their wish list of progressive things,” Ryan said, specifically referencing immigration and inflation.

The Observer / More

July 14, 2022

Speaker Paul Ryan appointed Teneo Vice Chairman

Teneo, the global CEO advisory firm, today announced the appointment of Speaker Paul Ryan as Vice Chairman. In this new role, Speaker Ryan will work closely with the firm’s senior leadership team to advise clients around the world and support Teneo’s ongoing growth.

“We are very pleased to have Paul Ryan take on this new role with Teneo as Vice Chairman,” said Paul Keary, CEO of Teneo. “Paul has unparalleled insights and experience across a wide range of key business, economic, policy and geopolitical issues. He will add significant value to Teneo clients around the world.”

Speaker Paul Ryan said: “The external environment facing CEOs has never been more challenging. There is no other firm as well positioned as Teneo to guide companies through this period of disruption. I have worked with many of their 1,500 people around the world who are advising on financial issues, corporate strategy, geopolitical risks, and all the other issues being discussed in board rooms today. I am delighted to be taking on the role of Vice Chairman and look forward to working with Teneo’s clients around the world….”

Speaker Ryan sits on several corporate boards and works as a partner of the private equity firm Solamere Capital. He is also President of the American Idea Foundation, visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and he teaches economics at the University of Notre Dame.

He first joined Teneo as a Senior Advisor in October of 2020.

Teneo / More

June 8, 2022

KOMO: Paul Ryan slams President Biden on energy policy, claims left wing is controlling him

Former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Paul Ryan criticized President Biden's energy policies Tuesday, claiming "there's so much more that [Biden] could do" to reduce gas prices. 

During an interview on The Armstrong Williams Show, Ryan said the Biden administration won't take steps to create American energy independence because of pressure from within the Democratic Party.

"Keystone is just one of many things that he could have. But again, the left doesn't want him to make carbon prices lower. The left doesn't want him to open American energy security and energy production. So he's not," Ryan said….

Beyond just energy policy, Ryan believes the Biden administration made a fatal mistake by allegedly governing too far to the left.

"The problem is he gave the keys to the left. If he governed in the middle and tried to get good centrist deals, he could have gotten it. But now, it's past that time. We're in campaign season now. So I think the die is cast, and that's why I think we're going to get a majority," Ryan said.

At the same time, Ryan urged Americans to remember the power they wield in their own communities and warned against overreliance on the federal government.

"Let's not think that Washington solves every problem. Let's remember we ourselves in our communities, in our churches, in our civic institutions and our local governments, that's really where we live our lives. That's really where we need to reinvigorate our activities," Ryan said. 

KOMO / More

June 1, 2022

Washington Examiner: Paul Ryan and Rep. Tom Rice argue Georgia Trump test case in South Carolina

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan and Rep. Tom Rice (R-SC) are hopeful Georgia Republican primary election voters' rejection of former President Donald Trump-endorsed candidates bodes well for Rice.

Voters yearn for contenders "who actually do the work of solving people's problems," according to Ryan.

"The Georgia voters last week just told us they want honest conservatives who are focused on their problems, not someone's vendetta," he told reporters in a Florence, South Carolina, hotel lobby after a pro-Rice luncheon…

Rice is amid his self-described "biggest test" against Trump-aligned state Rep. Russell Fry since clinching his 7th Congressional District seat a decade ago.

"Gov. Kemp has delivered for the voters of Georgia, and they repaid him. I think Raffensperger delivered for the voters of Georgia, and they repaid him for that," he told the Washington Examiner. "I'm hopeful that the people in this district feel the same."

Ryan quipped his opinions of Trump "are very clear," contending the Republican Party is experiencing "growing pains." But he is optimistic power will heal the GOP's fractures.

"If you become a majority party, you have to be a big tent party that can accommodate all different kinds of conservatives," he said.

Both Ryan, who earned a reputation as a wonk during his time on Capitol Hill, and Rice, a buttoned-up former tax lawyer, underscored the importance of policy over personality. The pair emphasized Rice's record with small businesses and lower socioeconomic constituents. Rice is poised to be promoted to a senior position next term if he is reelected, Ryan added.

Washington Examiner / More

May 27, 2022

The Hill:  Ryan to campaign for Tom Rice, who voted for Trump impeachment

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will campaign for Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.), one of the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach former President Trump in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

“Tom Rice is a man of principle, a man of conviction, and a leader who always puts South Carolina’s interests first. He is a legislative workhorse with a long track-record of supporting policies that grow the economy, rein in out-of-control spending, and expand opportunities for families and businesses,” Ryan said in a statement.

“Tom is a tireless and effective advocate for South Carolina. He will make a big impact when Republicans retake the House majority in 2022 and I’m looking forward to traveling around the 7th district with him.”

Ryan will appear at a luncheon for Rice in Florence, S.C., on Wednesday.

Rice, an accountant who has spent a decade in Congress, took Ryan’s spot on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee after Ryan became Speaker in 2015. He is now ranking member on the committee’s Oversight Subcommittee.

The Hill / More

May 26, 2022

CNBC: Paul Ryan discusses the Fed., Polarization, Solamere Capital & Life after Congress

On May 26th, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box to discuss the major political and economic issues of the day. In a conversation with Becky Quick, Ryan detailed his life after Congress, his thoughts on the Federal Reserve’s efforts to combat inflation and a possible recession, and how Congress can become more productive and less polarized.

The full interview is accessible here via CNBC. Excerpts follow.

Video: Ryan: “I Really Believe We as a Country Will Pull It Together, Because There Really Isn’t an Alternative”

“I think democracy is having a good moment. Authoritarians thought we were self-absorbed and polarized. We just talked about how we are polarized but at the end of the day, we pull it together. That's what's happening with NATO. That's what's happening with democracy in Ukraine.

At the end of the day, I think we will pull it together. I really believe we as a country will pull it together because there really isn't an alternative. And there are adults in Congress who have to be willing to take the hits for compromising. There will be men and women in Congress that will do that."

Video: Ryan on President Biden being led left, the stabilizing effect of divided government, & the midterms

“Joe Biden and I have been friends for years. I think people thought they were going to get a centrist in office, a common-ground guy, and that’s not what he was. He gave the keys to the left, to the progressives. They steered the country far left and tried to take the country so far left on so many issues, but they didn't have the majorities to do that. That's what always confounded me is they acted as if they had massive majorities with these left-wing ideas….

I think we’re going to win the midterms. I feel pretty good about that. We will definitely win the House; the Senate is a little harder to predict. I think we will go back to divided government and frankly, that would be nice to have. People won’t get scared that we’re going to go so far left – or whichever way you don’t want to go. I think divided government is going to be stabilizing for the economy and for the country and I think voters are going to want that.”

Video: On reducing polarization in Congress and developing a consensus   

 “[Polarization] is not new --- an inability to get common-sense solutions and not getting the two sides to agree is because of lots of considerations. But what I think is new is in this 21st century digital age, polarization is obviously rampant in America but it has come to Congress.

Congress is a proxy of the American people. I think what has changed is in the old days, like ten years ago, if you wanted to do really well in Congress, if you wanted to succeed, you climbed a meritocracy.

The measurement of success was policy and persuasion: Could you persuade your colleagues, your country, your constituents that this is the right way to go and say: here is a solution? That's not necessarily what motivates people anymore.

There are a lot of entertainers in Congress in both parties. We have an entertainment wing of the Republican and Democratic Party. And so, the old meritocracy that takes 10 to 20 years to climb up by being a good policymaker, you can just leapfrog that whole process by being a really good entertainer, having an incredible presence on digital, and forget about policymaking and curate a brand for yourself.

And so, you have entertainers in Congress now that have eschewed the policymaking process. Our system is designed for compromise. When I decided to become Speaker, which actually wasn't my goal, I knew I was capping myself politically, but that was fine. I was okay with that because I knew the job requires consensus deal-making. I was going to have to do deals with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell to prevent shutdowns and defaults and get things done and get half a loaf. That approach is bad for a brand and it’s bad if you are going to try to entertain and if you're going to show that you're better than everybody else within your own ecosystem.

What happens today in America is people get their device, they get their cable, they get their websites that algorithmically tells them what they want to hear, that self-reinforces and that divides us. So, the question is: Can we get our politics back to unifying politics and what are the common things we all agree on? That’s going to be harder in the 21st century digital age than ever before.”

Ryan on spending time on family, Solamere Capital, and public policy

“Timing is everything sometimes, but the last session before I left it was the most productive session since Ronald Reagan's first term. I'm proud of those achievements: tax reform, [combatting] opioids, we rebuilt the military, [reformed] the VA. We did get a lot of good things done but frankly, I was happy because I did 20 years, two decades in Congress, so I was definitely ready to do something else.

“And at Solamere, I love the idea of being able to invest in founder-owned businesses and help founders grow their businesses. I practiced free-market economic policymaking in Congress for 20 years. I want to practice it in real life so to be able to go back into the free economy and work on businesses, learn those things and practice what you preach - that to me is absolutely awesome.”

Ryan on what he has learned since joining Solamere Capital & Life After Congress

“Struggling alongside founders to help them grow their businesses, bringing them to the next level, scaling their businesses -- that is something policymakers think of theoretically, but actually practicing it and sweating it out with businesses, that's exciting. This is the firm that Mitt Romney founded 15 years ago with Tagg Romney, Spencer Zwick, and Eric Scheuermann. Founded 15 years ago, it has been knocking it out of the park. They're great guys.

The other thing I told myself is that in government, you don't get to pick your partners. The voters pick your partners for you. And, you know, some of them are really honest and hardworking and ethical and transparent and then there's the other people you work with. And so, I wanted to pick good partners with good integrity, people I enjoy working with.

I also am an economics professor at Notre Dame. I’m a fellow at AEI. I've got a charitable foundation focused on evidence-based poverty fighting that I run out of my Wisconsin office. I’m an advisor at Teneo, so I get to work with a lot of CEOs and help them with their problems as well.”

May 16, 2022

Yahoo Finance: Grey Rock Investment Partners & Executive Network Partnering Corporation Announce Business Combination to Form Publicly Traded Granite Ridge Resources

Grey Rock Investment Partners ("Grey Rock"), a Dallas-based investment firm, and Executive Network Partnering Corporation ("ENPC"), a special purpose acquisition entity, announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement to complete a $1.3 billion business combination resulting in the formation of publicly traded Granite Ridge Resources, Inc. ("Granite Ridge"). 

Subject to approval by the ENPC stockholders and customary regulatory requirements, Granite Ridge intends to be listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "GRNT" upon closing, which is expected to occur later this year. Granite Ridge will be led by chief executive officer Luke Brandenberg and chief financial officer Tyler Farquharson. 

"We see a tremendous market opportunity driven by the ever-increasing global demand for traditional energy commodities," said Griffin Perry, Co-Founder of Grey Rock. "In creating Granite Ridge, we have the unique opportunity to build a new company anchored by a premiere, scaled, non-operated oil and gas platform diversified across five of the most prolific basins in the United States." Matt Miller, Co-Founder of Grey Rock added, "We are excited to partner with ENPC to enter the public markets and deliver on our commitment to create healthy, risk-adjusted returns in underserved areas of the oil and gas market, while creating long-term value for Granite Ridge’s stockholders."

"This transaction with Grey Rock reflects our philosophy and commitment to matching accomplished, proven executives and great assets, with the proper capital structure to maximize results and value creation," said Paul Ryan, Chairman of ENPC and former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. "As hydrocarbons continue to play an important role in the global energy mix, we are confident that Granite Ridge, led by a world-class team with deep operational, technical, and financial expertise, is a compelling opportunity for investors looking to participate in the energy space...."

Yahoo Finance / More

April 27, 2022

AEI: The 100-year war for American conservatism with Matthew Continetti, Yuval Levin, and Paul Ryan

On April 27, AEI’s Matthew Continetti, Yuval Levin, and Paul Ryan discussed the American right’s history and present prospects in light of Mr. Continetti’s book The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism (Basic Books, 2022).

The panelists surveyed major moments in the conservative movement, including the fusionist establishment built under William F. Buckley Jr., the “Reagan Revolution” that further solidified Republican unity, and the 2012 presidential election that exposed the fractiousness of the contemporary GOP and led to Donald Trump’s triumph. The panelists agreed that the post-Reagan right is uniquely plagued by ideological debates, which have only become more contentious with the rise of Trump-era populism and the digital age.

To preserve the right’s integrity, Mr. Ryan said we must defend a distinctly American conservatism rooted in the natural law principles of our founding documents….

Watch the event here.

American Enterprise Institute / More  

February 25, 2022

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Family ties link former House Speaker Paul Ryan to U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson

He's a Republican from Janesville who ran for vice president in 2012. She's a historic U.S. Supreme Court nominee selected by a Democratic president.

But former House Speaker Paul Ryan and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson have quite a strong bond.

They're related by marriage….

In a tweet, Ryan offered his congratulations to Jackson, declaring: "Janna and I are incredibly happy for Ketanji and her entire family."

Ryan then repeated a phrase he used at a confirmation hearing for Jackson a decade ago, saying: "Our politics may differ, but my praise for Ketanji's intellect, for her character, and for her integrity, is unequivocal."

In 2012, when Jackson faced a U.S. Senate confirmation hearing for a district court opening, Ryan testified on her behalf as a character witness.

"I know she is clearly qualified. But it bears repeating just how qualified she is," he said then. Ryan discussed her academic, legal and career credentials and introduced her family.

Ryan said then, "She’s an amazing person, and I favorably recommend her for consideration....”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / More

September 12, 2021 

TMJ4: Former Speaker Paul Ryan reflects on 9/11 anniversary

On Saturday, the nation paused to reflect and remember the 3,000 lives lost September 11th, 2001. On this 20th anniversary, former Speaker Paul Ryan says they must never be forgotten.

TMJ4'S political reporter Charles Benson caught up with Ryan about how that terrible day changed a generation of lives.

Paul Ryan was a young, second term Congressman from Janesville in 2001. He was at the White House for a morning budget meeting that fateful day. 

"It wasn't until the second plane hit the tower, that the people in the White House realized this was a terrorist attack," said Ryan….

Ryan, who was elected on budget and economic issues - quickly found himself pivoting to a new reality.

"It changed everything for all of us, and so all of us in Congress, carved our own roles in how we can make a difference in the war on terror, we called it in those days," said Ryan…. 

President Biden says now was the right time to end the 'forever war and forever exit' but Ryan believes the U.S, should have kept up to 2500 troops in Afghanistan.

"The problem with Afghanistan is - if you're not there with some minimal degree of commitment, you're not going to be able to prevent something from materializing” said Ryan, “or you're not going to have the actual intelligence you need to act when it's early enough to do something that's very convincing." 

But Ryan knows the sacrifice has taken a toll on so many.

"An entire generation of Americans, since 9/11 changed the course of the trajectory of their lives to keep us safe." said Ryan. Some paid the ultimate sacrifice and it's really important that we never forget this."

"They may not fully understand the horror of it all, but they can admire the heroism."

TMJ4 / More 

September 11, 2021

NBC-15: 20 years later: former House Speaker Paul Ryan shares 9/11 memories

Recently, Gray Television Washington News Bureau’s David Ade spoke with former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) about the 20th year anniversary of September 11th, 2001. Ryan also spoke about his ensuing vote to authorize military force in Afghanistan and what he believes of the U.S. removal of troops from Afghanistan. Ryan also discusses who he believes deserves recognition as the nation remembers 9/11.

Ryan remembers being at the White House talking about the budget as the planes hit the World Trade Center in New York. He then returned to Capitol Hill amid panic and tried to find safety, along with his staff, at a home about three blocks from the Capitol building….

David Ade: At the time, when you voted to authorize the use of force in Afghanistan, did you imagine that this would kind of be how it played out 20 years later?

PR: I think we went in with probably higher expectations than what we could achieve. But the base takeaway in Afghanistan, the lesson that we should never forget, is have we prevented Afghanistan from being a training ground for terrorist groups to reconstitute themselves to attack our homeland? 

And the answer is yes, we have prevented that. And that is why I really think that both presidents, Trump and Biden, have made the wrong decision and have made dangerous decisions. I know they are tired of this war but you can’t be more tired than the terrorists. So I think both presidents made the wrong decision and as a result, they are going to allow Afghanistan to be another potential hotbed for terrorists' reconstitution.

DA: As we wrap up, are there any other messages you want people around Wisconsin or around the country to hear as they remember?

PR: I think it’s a time to take stock and just be grateful for this entire generation of young Americans who stepped up. Our first responders, our police, our firefighters, our military, our Homeland Security, our Central Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon, all of these security departments at the state, local, and federal levels, really have done their job. 

They have kept us and their families safe, and we should be eternally grateful to them for that.

NBC15 / More

May 29,2021

Full Text & Video: Speaker Paul Ryan’s Address at the Reagan Library

On Thursday, May 27th, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) kicked off the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library’s speaking series: A “Time for Choosing.” In his address from Simi Valley, CA, Speaker Ryan shared his thoughts on how the lessons and legacy of President Reagan can be applied to the modern-day challenges facing the Republican Party. 

Speaker Ryan’s full remarks, as prepared for delivery, are available here.

 For video of Speaker Ryan’s speech at the Reagan Library, click here.  

June 9, 2021

George Will: Reaganite optimist Paul Ryan on the future of the Republican Party 

To those Republicans who think the first 18 Republican presidents were merely misbegotten preludes to the magnificent 19th, Paul Ryan is guilty of the eighth deadly sin, which they consider the worst of the lot: cheerfulness. They might not know that on Jan. 6, when a mob sacked the U.S. Capitol, Ryan wept.

This was two years after he ended his 10-term House tenure. Drafted by his colleagues to serve as House speaker, he was precluded from chairing the Ways and Means Committee, his highest ambition since he came to Congress with a vanishingly rare seriousness about policies for economic dynamism and a sustainable safety net of entitlements. The 2016 presidential election forced him into an excruciating collaboration. Had he sought reelection in 2018 from Wisconsin, he would have been volunteering for continuing complicity. So, he retired.

The Republicans’ 2012 vice-presidential nominee was, however, chosen by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library to deliver on May 27 the first in what will be a series of speeches by Republican leaders on their party’s future. Noting that there are statues of Reagan in London, Budapest, Berlin, Warsaw and Gdansk in Poland, and many other places because the ideas Reagan championed are “universal” and “as hopeful and compelling as ever,” he cited Indiana’s freshman Rep. Victoria Spartz….

Ryan referred obliquely to Jan. 6 — “it was horrifying to see a presidency come to such a dishonorable and disgraceful end” — and warned against basing conservatism on “the populist appeal of one personality, or of second-rate imitations. . . . Voters looking for Republican leaders want to see independence and mettle. They will not be impressed by the sight of yes men and flatterers flocking to Mar-a-Lago.” This elicited a belch of stale invective (Ryan is “a curse to the Republican Party”) from the man who was the first president since Herbert Hoover to lose the White House and his party’s control of both houses of Congress in just four years….

He is scathing about Democrats’ identity politics that “has gone from ideology to obsession.” Theirs is a “dreary view of America as a collection of groups in perpetual conflict with each other” — “constantly accusing, suspecting, claiming victimhood.” But he correctly says, “too many people on the right are enamored with identity politics,” defining the party “by resentments instead of by ideals,” abandoning individualism for “the selfishness and grievance-collecting of tribe against tribe….”

Ryan, however, suggests effective language for 2022: “Joe Biden was put into the presidency by swing suburban voters — the kind who normally vote Republican, but in this case did so only for Congress and not for president. They expected a center-left unifier. The problem is, he has focused on unifying, not the nation, but the Democratic Party, surrendering to its progressive base. . . . In 2020, the country wanted a nice guy who would move to the center and depolarize our politics. Instead, we got a nice guy pursuing an agenda more leftist than any president in my lifetime.”

Not since Grover Cleveland, who lost as an incumbent in 1888 but won again in 1892, has a defeated president sought a second term. Many Republicans who disdain Ryan’s Reaganite optimism hope that if their hero cannot reprise 1892 in 2024, at least a second-rate imitator can succeed. In either case, they will learn what a real “curse to the Republican Party” looks like.

Washington Post / More

May 28, 2021

Wall Street Journal: Paul Ryan Calls on GOP to Lessen Reliance on Trump

Former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, in a speech Thursday evening at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, argued that the future of the GOP needs to be about more than former President Donald Trump.

“Once again, we conservatives find ourselves at a crossroads,” Mr. Ryan said. “Here’s one reality we have to face: If the conservative cause depends on the populist appeal of one personality, or of second-rate imitations, then we’re not going anywhere….”

While praising some of Mr. Trump’s accomplishments, such as a major rewrite of the tax code, Mr. Ryan discouraged singular loyalty to the former president. “Voters looking for Republican leaders want to see independence and mettle,” he said. “They will not be impressed by the sight of yes-men and flatterers flocking to Mar-a-Lago,” a reference to Mr. Trump’s Florida estate.

The economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic and some of Mr. Trump’s actions resulted in the party losing power in Washington, Mr. Ryan said. “That calamity, along with some fiascos of the president’s own making, set the scene for our present challenges,” he said.

Mr. Ryan said he was horrified to watch the final weeks of Mr. Trump’s presidency, something he said came to a “dishonorable and disgraceful end.”

Mr. Ryan said Republicans need to harness the energy Mr. Trump brought to their party, while remaining loyal to the values of limited government, free enterprise and respect for the rule of law that Mr. Reagan cherished. “Take the populist energy of the recent years, combine it with the core principles of conservatism, and the result will be a coalition even broader and stronger than yesterday’s Republican Party,” he said.

“We win majorities by directing our loyalty and respect to voters, and by staying faithful to the conservative principles that unite us,” said Mr. Ryan, before one of many references to Mr. Reagan. “This was true even when the person leading our movement was as impressive, polished, and agreeable as they come.”

Wall Street Journal / More

May 27, 2021

Fox News: Ryan says ‘staying faithful’ to ‘conservative principles’ ticket to GOP resurgence

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan says "staying faithful to the conservative principles" that unite all wings of the GOP is essential for the resurgence of the Republican Party.

Ryan, speaking Thursday evening at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., also warned that conservatives must be careful "not to get caught up in every little cultural battle" at the expense of policy solutions.

And the Republican from Wisconsin - who gave the kick-off address of the "Time for Choosing" speaking series focusing on the critical questions concerning the future of the GOP – stressed that the party needs to lessen its reliance "on the populist appeal" of former President Trump in order to succeed….

Pointing to the nation’s economic successes and job growth before the coronavirus pandemic swept the nation early last year, Ryan said: "These historic reforms were a triumph of practical conservative policy, a model of the shared prosperity and upward mobility we have always talked about. It was the populism of President Trump in action, tethered to conservative principles."

Ryan said he was "proud of the longstanding promises Republicans made good on in those years.  By any measure, it is a plus that we are now a party that more working people can identify with, a party that takes American sovereignty and the security of our border seriously."

He also took aim at his party’s seeming emphasis on cultural issues.

"As the left gets more ‘woke,’ the rest of America is getting weary.  This stuff is exhausting.  And we conservatives have to be careful not to get caught up in every little cultural battle," Ryan said. "Sometimes these skirmishes are just creations of outrage peddlers, detached from reality and not worth anybody’s time.  They draw attention away from the far more important case we must make to the American people.”

Fox News / More

May 27, 2021

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Paul Ryan to speak on future of Republican Party and conservative movement at Reagan Library

Acknowledging that "conservatives find ourselves at a crossroads," former House Speaker Paul Ryan sought to map out a vision for the Republican Party in the post-Donald Trump era.

In an address Thursday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, Ryan credited Trump for bringing "many new voters into our party" but said Republicans have to face a reality.

"If the conservative cause depends on the populist appeal of one personality, or of second-rate imitations, then we're not going anywhere," Ryan said. "Voters looking for Republican leaders want to see independence and mettle. They will not be impressed by the sight of yes-men and flatterers flocking to Mar-a-Lago."

Ryan said "the populism of President Trump in action, tethered to conservative principles" created reforms but the economic expansion was cut short by the pandemic.

"That calamity, along with some fiascoes of the president's own making, set the scene for our present challenges," Ryan said.

Ryan represented Janesville and Wisconsin's 1st Congressional District for 20 years but didn't run for re-election in 2018.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / More

April 28, 2021

Former Speaker of the House discusses congressional experience, economic policy

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan discussed ideologies that influenced his political career at a virtual event Thursday.

The Graduate School of Political Management and the National Churchill Leadership Center hosted the interview with Ryan, who spoke about his experience serving in Congress and his foundation that aims to increase economic opportunity in the United States. Justin Reash, the program director of National Churchill Leadership Center, moderated the event as part of the Churchill Leadership Series….

Ryan said the leadership style of Winston Churchill, the prime minister of the United Kingdom during World War II, influenced him to strongly believe in knowing his principles, understanding his philosophies and being able to persuade people in debates.

Ryan added that Churchill’s legacy inspired him to take on a level-headed temperament and positive outlook of the world. He said this led him to focus on how to advance democratic capitalism and prepare people and policymakers to avert economic conflicts in the country.

“That lesson in Churchill is what got me focused on the things I got focused on in Congress,” Ryan said….

He said he was transparent about his beliefs and personality and relied on his honest interactions with voters when he ran as speaker within the Republican Party.

 “If I tell you who I am and what I think, and I get elected, then I have an obligation or a moral opportunity to work on my policies,” Ryan said.

 He said leaders in the country can ensure they fulfill their policy goals by crafting realistically achievable agendas.

 “You do it to make good on your promises and hopefully your policies work, and in our case, they did where tax reform and deregulation worked,” he said.

 Ryan said he believes in democratic capitalism and upper mobility but is concerned that younger generations are emotionally attached to socialism. He said his foundation, called the American Idea Foundation, seeks to tackle issues like poverty with center-right free-market policies.

 He said the foundation is working on testing free-market solutions that can break people out of poverty using data from government poverty programs that measure which programs are efficient at breaking poverty.

 “I am more than willing and confident that our principles of personal responsibility, of upper mobility, of free enterprise and incentives work, so I think you can advance these ideas using data and statistics instead of ideology and partisanship,” he said.

GW Hatchet | More

February 25, 2021

Janesville Gazette: Ryan joins investment firm

Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has become a partner in the Boston private equity investment firm Solamere Capital, the company announced.

 Tagg Romney and his father, Mitt Romney, were founding partners of Solamere in 2008 along with Eric Scheuermann and Spencer Zwick, according to the company’s website….

 Ryan will work with Solamere’s team to help CEOs and industry leaders pool their capital and networks to add value to private investment opportunities, according to the news release.

 The release quotes Ryan: “For two decades in Congress, I advocated for policies that would create jobs, increase economic growth, and support workers and businesses. I fought to improve free markets and expand the free enterprise system so more people could realize their version of the American Dream. Now, as a partner at Solamere, I’m excited to put into practice the values that I have long preached….

 Zwick is quoted in the news release as saying, “We believe Paul Ryan understands the intersections between public policy and private industry better than anyone. As speaker of the house, Paul led on critical economic issues like taxes, trade, health care and regulations, and his experience serving in the highest levels of government will be incredibly beneficial to Solamere and our strategic partners.

 “More importantly, Paul has proven to be a man of principle and integrity,” Zwick said. “I firmly believe he will bring new insights that will yield tangible results for our investors.”

Solamere was a partner in Ryan’s formation last year of Executive Network Partnering Corp., a special purpose acquisition company.

Janesville Gazette | More

February 24, 2021

Wall Street Journal: Paul Ryan to Join Solamere Capital

Former House speaker Paul Ryan, who last year joined the rush of high-profile individuals launching special-purpose acquisition companies, is going to work at the private-equity firm he teamed up with in that effort.

Mr. Ryan will join Solamere Capital, a private-equity firm founded by Utah Sen. Mitt Romney’s son Taggart, as well as Eric Scheuermann and Spencer Zwick, as a partner. Solamere, a Boston firm with more than $1 billion in assets, seeks to invest in high-growth companies and help them expand and create jobs, he said.

He was inclined to join the firm because it takes a conservative approach to adding debt to companies in its portfolio and eschews layoffs—two things private-equity firms are typically associated with.

“For 20 years in Congress, I’ve been preaching the virtues of the free-enterprise system,” Mr. Ryan said in an interview. “The reason I’m joining Solamere is that I want to practice what I preach…..”

Solamere has gotten “tremendous inquiries” from potential targets, Mr. Ryan said, adding that he has been surprised at how many more SPACs have been created since his was formed.

Many business magnates, celebrities and former athletes including Shaquille O’Neal, Alex Rodriguez and Colin Kaepernick have joined the SPAC frenzy. So far this year, on average, between four and five have been created during each business day.

While the SPAC surge has accelerated since Mr. Ryan announced his plans to form one in August, he said he is going to wait and see whether Solamere will launch additional blank-check vehicles, as these deals are also known.

Mr. Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, chose not to run for re-election to Congress and was succeeded by Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) as House speaker in 2019. The 51-year-old was Mr. Romney’s vice-presidential running mate in 2012 and before taking over as House speaker. He also served for years as chairman of the House Budget Committee.

The Wall Street Journal | More

January 8, 2021

FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER paul ryan will attend biden inaugural

“The peaceful transition of power is a hallmark of American democracy, and that's why Speaker Ryan feels it is important to attend,” said Kevin Seifert, an aide to Ryan, the former Wisconsin congressman, 2012 GOP vice presidential nominee and speaker of the House from 2015 to 2019.

 Ryan is attending at the invitation of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. The Wisconsin Republican accepted the invitation earlier this week, before the storming of the U.S. Capitol, and before the announcement by outgoing President Donald Trump that Trump — in a break with tradition — would not be going to Biden’s inauguration, Seifert said….

 Ryan participated in a University of Virginia forum Wednesday that was streamed online after the storming of the Capitol, but his remarks for that event were recorded Wednesday morning, before Trump supporters rioted. 

 At that event, Ryan said he has "intentionally kept a low profile because I didn't want to armchair-quarterback my successors, Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell."

But he said the effort to overturn the election was a moment "where clear principles are on the line."

"So, you have to choose, to which do you pledge fealty? To a man like Donald Trump, or to sort of the bedrock of our democracy, our Constitution?" Ryan said.

"It's so clear, the Constitution on this. And as conservatives, we don't want to federalize elections. We believe in the Electoral College. Why on earth we would want to delegitimize these things is beyond me. And the President's doing this for his own personal gain, his own reasons, but that doesn't mean people should follow that."

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | More

January 3, 2021

FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER PAUL RYAN’S STATEMENT ON GOP EFFORTS TO OVERTURN THE ELECTION

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan, who represented Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District from 1999 to 2019, issued the following statement on Republican efforts to overturn the November 2020 election for President of the United States when the Electoral College vote count is announced on January 6, 2021:

“All our basic rights and freedoms flow from a fidelity to the Constitution and rule of law. This principle is not only fundamentally American but a central tenet on conservatism. Under our system, voters determine the president, and this self-governance cannot sustain itself if the whims of Congress replace the will of the people. I urge members to consider the precedent that it would set.

“Efforts to reject the votes of the Electoral College and sow doubt about Joe Biden’s victory strike at the foundation of our republic. It is difficult to conceive of a more anti-democratic and anti-conservative act than a federal intervention to overturn the results of state-certified elections and disenfranchise millions of Americans. The fact that this effort will fail does not mean it not do significant damage to American democracy.

“The Trump campaign had ample opportunity to challenge election results, and those efforts failed from lack of evidence. The legal process was exhausted, and the results were decisively confirmed. The Department of Justice, too, found no basis for overturning the result. If states wish to reform their processes for future elections, that is their prerogative. But Joe Biden’s victory is entirely legitimate.”

Right Wisconsin | More

December 3, 2020

Janesville Gazette: Paul Ryan joins think tank

Former House speaker and Janesville native Paul Ryan has been named to the board of trustees of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

The nonpartisan think tank announced the appointment Tuesday.

Ryan, a Republican, represented Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District for 20 years before stepping down in January 2019. He was Sen. Mitt Romney’s vice-presidential running mate in 2012.

“Paul has a tremendous track record of public service, leadership, and intellectual vigor. I am thrilled to welcome him to our board of trustees and look forward to his contributions to the Center,” CSIS President and CEO John J. Hamre is quoted as saying in a news release….

Ryan’s other endeavors since he left the House of Representatives in 2019 include founding his American Idea Foundation and serving on the boards of directors of Fox Corp. and of SHINE Medical Technologies, and on the advisory boards of Robert Bosch GmbH and CIS Credit Solutions.

Ryan also serves on the board of trustees of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute.

Earlier this year, Ryan was named chairman of the board of the newly formed Executive Network Partnering Corp., described in various reports as a special-purpose acquisition company.

Ryan is also currently a professor of the practice at the University of Notre Dame and a visiting fellow in the practice of public policy at the American Enterprise Institute.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies describes itself as “one of the world’s preeminent public policy institutions on foreign policy and national security issues,” with a staff of more than 240 and a network of affiliated scholars who conduct research and analysis and develop policy initiatives.

“CSIS is regularly called upon by Congress, the executive branch, the media and others to explain the day’s events and offer recommendations to improve U.S. strategy,” according to its website.

Janesville Gazette | More

November 24, 2020

The Hill: Ryan calls for Trump to accept results: 'The election is over'

Former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is calling for President Trump to accept the election results and move forward with a peaceful transfer of power to President-elect Joe Biden.

While speaking at the Bank of America’s virtual European Credit Conference on Tuesday, Ryan said he believes it’s time for Trump to acknowledge that “the General Services Administration ascertained the election” so Biden can begin the process of populating his future administration.

The Wisconsin Republican then called for the Trump campaign to end its legal challenges in multiple swing states, noting they have failed to produce evidence of voter fraud.

“I think maybe even more important is that these legal challenges to the outcome and the attacks on our voting system really need to stop, in my opinion,” he said, as first reported by Politico.

“The outcome will not be changed, and it will only serve to undermine our faith in our system of government, our faith in our democracy,” he added….

“It is not pleasant, and I know there are a lot of people in this country who are really disappointed. But I think it’s really important that we’re clear about this, which is the mere fact that the president’s lawyers throw these sort of baseless conspiracy theories out at press conferences but offer no evidence of these in court tells you that there is not the kind of widespread voter fraud or systemic voter fraud that would be required to overturn the outcome of this election,” he said.

“So, the election is over. The outcome is certain, and I really think the orderly transfer of power -- that is one of the most uniquely fundamental American components of our political system,” he added.

The Hill | More

October 6, 2020

Teneo: Speaker Paul Ryan Joins Teneo as a Senior Advisor

Teneo, the global CEO advisory firm, today announced the appointment of Speaker Paul Ryan as a Senior Advisor….

“We are very pleased to be welcoming Speaker Paul Ryan to Teneo as a Senior Advisor,” said Declan Kelly, Chairman and CEO of Teneo. “Teneo’s clients around the globe are navigating a world of unprecedented geopolitical and public policy challenges and Speaker Ryan is uniquely positioned to help advise them around these issues.”

“I am very pleased to be joining the Teneo team,” said Speaker Paul Ryan. “Teneo advises many of the world’s leading CEOs and companies and I am looking forward to the opportunity to spend time with clients, as well as working closely with Teneo’s teams around the world."

Teneo | More

August 20, 2020

Wall Street Journal: Former House Speaker Paul Ryan Starts Blank-Check Company

Executive Network Partnering will seek to raise roughly $300 million in an initial public offering

Paul Ryan, the consummate Washington negotiator, is trying his hand at another kind of deal making, jumping into the rush on Wall Street toward blank-check acquisition companies.

The former House speaker will serve as chairman of a vehicle known as Executive Network Partnering Corp., which will seek to raise roughly $300 million in an initial public offering, people familiar with the deal said. That figure is subject to change based on demand.

Mr. Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican who chose not to run for re-election and was succeeded by Nancy Pelosi as House speaker in 2019, is one of the boldest names yet to join a surge this year in the creation of blank-check companies. Mr. Ryan was Mitt Romney’s vice-presidential running mate in 2012 and before taking over as House speaker, served for years as chairman of the House Budget Committee.

He is a director of Fox Corp., which shares common ownership with Wall Street Journal parent News Corp.

Also known as special-purpose acquisition companies, they turn the traditional IPO model on its head by going public before acquiring a business. They have gained popularity as deal makers look to take advantage of the economic dislocation caused by the coronavirus pandemic….

ENPC, which will serve as the new vehicle’s ticker symbol, will be a twist on the traditional SPAC, with longer-term incentives for its backers and potentially slimmer fees for underwriters, the people said….

Alex Dunn, the former president of security company Vivint Smart Home Inc., will serve as chief executive of the new SPAC. Solamere Capital, run by Sen. Romney’s son Taggart, will be the main sponsor. 

 Wall Street Journal | More

May 7, 2020

The Stanford Daily: Paul Ryan discusses COVID-19, international relations, conservatism

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan endorsed the current economic policy response to coronavirus, but he criticized the president’s foreign policy and populist support in a talk on Thursday…. 

The event covered government responses to COVID-19, immigration and tax reform, trade and the future of the Republican Party. 

Ryan insisted that “we have to start the economy back up” once we have greater capacity in healthcare and more widespread testing, though he believes the current policy response to COVID-19-related economic disruption is appropriate.  

 “This one quarter’s worth of artificial economic stimulus, levitation, of the government putting in five, six, trillion dollars in place of real economic activity, can only be done for so long,” he said. “And you will not be able to sustain this much longer….”

“[We need] something that encourages people to go from unemployment to work,” Ryan said, “because you’re going to have long-term unemployment checks, and then something that lowers the marginal [tax] rate. And I think the payroll tax cut is the best idea I’ve seen out there that also gets a demand-side issue dealt with….”

He called the trade war with Beijing “necessary,” however, and called for a decoupling from China. 

“This China, Wuhan, virus challenge is a wake-up call to the free world that we should take to rally the free world and make sure that we can promote standards of decency, of democracy, of human rights and of security cooperation,” he said…. 

In closing, Ryan encouraged the graduating class of 2020 to stay confident in their abilities to make an impact, even at a young age. 

“Find out what your passion is,” Ryan said. “Go chase it. If it doesn’t work, then do it again, and do it again, and do it again. That’s the great thing about failure in a free society like ours. You’ll get wisdom out of it, and you’ll be more successful next time around.”

The Stanford Daily | More

April 28, 2020

The Harvard Crimson: Former House Speaker Paul Ryan Talks Coronavirus, Reopening Economy at IOP Fast Forum

Former Speaker of the House Paul D. Ryan spoke about the pandemic-stricken economy, the future of the Republican party, and U.S.-China relations to a digital audience at an Institute of Politics Fast Forum Monday.

Public leadership professor and former president of the American Enterprise Institute Arthur C. Brooks co-hosted the forum with Ryan, who currently teaches at the University of Notre Dame and is an AEI fellow.

With the United States stock market crashing amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, Ryan said he is “frankly very, very worried about the economy.”

“Deflationary spiral has been my biggest concern, which is a liquidity crisis becomes a solvency crisis. And then thousands and thousands of businesses go bankrupt,” he added….

Reflecting on the political landscape more broadly, Ryan also said he doesn’t know what the future of the Republican Party in the post-Trump era will hold.

“There’s going to be a big fight for the soul of the conservative movement in the post-Trump era,” he said. “It’s either going to happen in one year or in five years time. There’s going to be a huge soul-searching after the president leaves as to what is the future of conservatism.”

“And it’s going to be along these different populist lines — Reagan conservatism, classical liberal conservatism, paleocons, reformicons,” he added….

Ryan also said differences in infection rates and experiences with the pandemic form the basis for discrepancies in attitudes toward relaxing social distancing guidelines between more Republican rural areas and Democratic urban cities.

He added that he predicts “major realignments” in U.S.-China relations as a result of the crisis.

“We have to do a better job of repatriating the supply chain so we do not have to be so dependent on others,” he said. “I’m a pretty free trade guy, but the one exception to that is China, because China was not playing by the rules.”

The Harvard Crimson | More

February 21, 2020

DAILY PROGRESS: Paul Ryan at UVA: Impeachment could become a regular feature of politics

Presidential impeachment could become a regular feature of the political landscape, but that doesn’t mean it will be an effective strategy to corral an executive, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Paul Ryan told a University of Virginia audience on Friday….

“I think it has been cheapened and demeaned as a process. I think it has become more of a political weapon,” said Ryan, a Republican who served 20 years as a Wisconsin congressman before retiring in 2019. “I think it’s unfortunately going to become more of a regular tool than it ever should be. It’s not something that [Alexander] Hamilton and the [Constitution’s] framers had in mind.”

Ryan was a guest of the UVA Center for Politics and the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He made his comments at program held at the Rotunda and led by the Center for Politics’ founder and director, Larry J. Sabato.

“[Trump’s impeachment] brought the [Democratic congressional] caucus together and gave hope and rise to the Democratic base only to squash their feelings when it failed. It also galvanized and agitated the Republican base and brought it together,” Ryan said. “It’s bad for the country and it hyper-polarizes the nation.”

Daily Progress | More

February 21, 2020

UVA TODAY: PAUL RYAN RECOUNTS HIS DAYS ON CAPITOL HILL, TALKS CURRENT EVENTS IN DOME ROOM

On Friday, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and University of Virginia Center for Politics Director Larry Sabato had a wide-ranging conversation in the Rotunda, discussing everything from the 2020 presidential election to Ryan’s childhood and family life….

Calling President Donald Trump “clearly the favorite,” so far, Ryan said he was especially confident the president could defeat the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party, led by candidates like U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

“As an American, it is kind of scary that Bernie Sanders could be the nominee, a socialist. … But as a Republican, I love the idea,” he said, saying that Sanders’ more extreme views could push voters toward Trump and help down-ballot Republicans trying to regain the majority in the House of Representatives.

A strong economy, he said, would be Trump’s best calling card in the general election.

 “I think President Trump is the likely winner, no matter who he is running against,” Ryan said. “The economy is good; the numbers are good. [The Democrats] will be forced to run a personality contest against him.”

UVA Today | More

January 13, 2020

FORMER US SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE PAUL RYAN TALKS 2020 ECONOMIC PREDICTIONS AT NRF

“We are in a tech race, whether we like it or not,” Ryan admitted. “Basically, what I see happening is a fight between democracies and autocracies. China’s going to have a surveillance state. They’re going to help other autocracies fund their surveillance states, and we as democracies have to do a better job working together to counter this.”

Ryan said not only is China copying America’s technology, but it is stealing it.

“We will not win a race with China if it’s all about spending money,” Ryan said. “They will outspend us. The question is, can we use the better attributes of freedom, of free markets, which are innovation incentives, free enterprise, private property to make sure that we can excel in this area and win this competition?”

Ad Week | More

December 13, 2019

Former U.S. House Speakers Ryan, Boehner, and Gingrich Join RSLC, Form Speakers Advisory Council

The Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) this morning announced that former U.S. House Speakers Paul Ryan (2015-2019), John Boehner (2011-2015), and Newt Gingrich (1995-1999) have joined together to lead the RSLC’s Speakers Advisory Council. In these key advisory roles, each of the Speakers will provide critical support to the RSLC’s recently-launched ‘Right Lines 2020’ initiative to protect Republican legislative majorities ahead of the decennial redrawing of federal and state district maps….

Speaker Paul Ryan added, “After getting beat badly in 2010 and facing the consequences for nearly a decade, Democrats are not just focusing on federal elections, but are prioritizing state legislatures as well. They are doing so for one reason: redistricting. The threat this poses to the conservative principles that guide our country, and the policies that keep our families safe, healthy, and working cannot be overstated. The RSLC is leading the fight to protect state and congressional districts from liberal gerrymandering, and I am proud to lend my full support to their mission of winning races up-and-down the ballot.”

WBIW | More

October 28, 2019

PAUL RYAN LAUNCHES NEW NONPROFIT

Former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Monday launched a nonprofit organization that will focus on his legislative priorities during his two decades in Congress: fighting poverty, boosting economic opportunity and promoting “evidence-based” reforms on issues like welfare, foster care and criminal justice.

The American Idea Foundation, which will have offices in his hometown of Janesville, Wis., will partner with community organizations, academics and lawmakers. Ryan will serve as president of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

“The American idea means the condition of your birth does not determine the outcome of your life, and I am excited this Foundation will educate individuals about solutions and efforts that give more people the opportunity to realize their versions of the American Dream,” Ryan said in a statement launching his nonprofit.

The Hill | More

October 28, 2019

Paul Ryan forms new non-profit focused on poverty and economic policy

The Wisconsin Republican will be president of the 501(c)(3) group that will be housed in Mr. Ryan’s hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin.

“The American idea means the condition of your birth does not determine the outcome of your life, and I am excited this Foundation will educate individuals about solutions and efforts that give more people the opportunity to realize their versions of the American Dream,” Mr. Ryan said in a statement. “The American Idea Foundation will demonstrate that it is bottom-up dynamism of individuals and communities that truly makes America a land of prosperity.”

Mr. Ryan’s policy work has previously made him an ally of President Trump, such as when the two Republicans worked to pass tax reform legislation in 2017. 

Washington Times | More

October 28, 2019

Paul Ryan Launches Foundation In Janesville To Fight Poverty

Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has launched a new anti-poverty foundation in his hometown of Janesville.

Ryan, who spent two decades in Congress, made poverty a focus of his political career. He kick-started the American Idea Foundation earlier this year with $7 million from his congressional account, according to the Associated Press.

In a video featuring panoramic shots of the Statue of Liberty and footage of former President Ronald Reagan, Ryan outlined the goals of the organization.

"The American Idea Foundation will focus its efforts on promoting free-market principles that advance economic growth, that expand upward mobility, that reduce poverty, so we can make a lasting difference," he said in the video.

WPR | More

September 13, 2019

Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan visits Notre Dame

Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan visited Notre Dame on Friday and spoke about the ongoing fight against poverty. He's visited the campus many times before and has two brothers who attended the university.

Some 50 years after President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the war on poverty, Ryan talked about making that fight a national priority.

"Everybody believed in this country that your kids are going to be better off than you are, that's what America is," Ryan said. "Less and less people believe that these days, and so we really felt like there was a dire, urgent need, and that is why we found out about the evidence-based data science and how it can make a difference. Our whole goal is to move the war on poverty, federal programs, get them away from the ideological fights that we get wrapped around the axle on, and just focus on what works."

WNDU | More

September 10, 2019

Paul Ryan joins American Enterprise Institute as distinguished visiting fellow

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan is taking on another role in the private sector less than a year after leaving Congress. Ryan is now a distinguished visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, the organization announced Tuesday. He will focus on opportunity, mobility, the social safety net and entitlement reform, according to a news release.

“Paul Ryan has always been among the most substantive and thoughtful of political leaders," president Robert Doar said. "He possesses a keen awareness of how politics works (and doesn’t work), a firm belief in the potential of all Americans, and an understanding of the limitations of the federal government."

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | More

August 28, 2019

Condoleezza Rice and former House Speaker Paul Ryan join parade of dignitaries in Utah

Great minds from the worlds of business and politics came together Wednesday for the Salt Lake City-based investment firm Peterson Partners’ annual Investor & CEO conference at the Montage Deer Valley.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice provided the keynote address, appearing on stage for a conversation with Joel Peterson, a founding partner in the private equity and venture capital firm. Also appearing on stage was Paul Ryan, former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Utah has played host to a number of significant leaders during the past week, including Vice President Mike Pence, the U.N. Civil Society Conference attendees and now Rice and Ryan. Rice spoke of foreign affairs and America’s critical role in it. Others pointed to Utah as a true crossroads to opportunity.

Desert News | More

August 26, 2019

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan appointed to SHINE’s Board of Directors

SHINE Medical Technologies, LLC today announced the appointment of Paul D. Ryan to the company’s board of directors. Mr. Ryan brings nearly three decades of experience with complex national and international health care, business, energy and other issues to SHINE’s board…

“Paul is a visionary with a wealth of experience and an expansive network that are welcome additions to SHINE’s board,” said Greg Piefer, founder and CEO of SHINE. “Paul will provide critical guidance to SHINE as we expand into domestic and international markets that require deep mastery of global policy, economics and leadership. His knowledge of domestic and international health care and energy policy will be an invaluable guide to us. We also are excited to be working with someone who cares about building great things in Janesville as deeply as we do.”

Mr. Ryan was born, raised and lives in Janesville, Wis., where SHINE is headquartered and is building its medical isotope production facility.

Business Wire | More

June 23, 2019

Paul Ryan and Judy Woodruff discuss current crises in the world and life after Washington

Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan sat down with Judy Woodruff in Aspen, Colorado, Sunday, to discuss his perspective on Washington since leaving government. They discussed how the policies he helped implement have fared under the current administration, Ryan’s views on current economic policies and the issues he’ll prioritize in his post-Washington world.

PBS | More

June 10, 2019

Paul Ryan SAYS ENTITLEMENT AND IMMIGRATION REFORMS WERE HIS BIGGEST ‘UNFINISHED BUSINESS’

Paul Ryan said Monday that reforms to entitlement spending and immigration were the biggest "unfinished business" of his speakership.

"Those are the two big things that have to be dealt with," Ryan said in a rare public address at an electric utility industry conference hosted by the Edison Electric Institute. "Our politics are not letting us solve those problems. Our politics are vicious right now."

Ryan was outlining his preferred agenda after he was asked by Edison Electric Institute President Thomas Kuhn whether he would run for president in the future. The former House speaker from Wisconsin did not answer the question directly, instead discussing Republicans' "unfinished business."

"One thing I regret the most is we did not get a debt reduction plan in place," Ryan said. "If you don't get these entitlements under control, we will have a debt crisis in this country. Immigration has been plagued by politics. If we solve the immigration problem, which is totally solvable, and our debt problem, which is totally solvable, we are going to be great."

Washington Examiner | More

April 16, 2019

Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan to join Notre Dame faculty

Ryan, who recently finished two consecutive terms as Speaker of the House, has served as a Republican representative of Wisconsin’s first congressional district for the last 20 years. He will be joining former Indiana senator Joe Donnelly and former White House chief-of-staff Denis McDonough as “professors of the practice” at the University, the release said.

“The study of political science is strengthened when students hear from people with real-world policy and political experience,” David Campbell, chair of the political science department at Notre Dame, said. “Having former officials in the classroom provides important insights for students — an opportunity to put the theories we study to the test.” Ryan will be lecturing on topics such as the basics of the United States government, current polarization in American politics and the intersection between Catholicism and economics, among other topics, the release said.

Notre Dame Observer | More

April 16, 2019

U.S. commitment to Taiwan security 'rock-solid,' says ex-Speaker Paul Ryan

Former U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan led the delegation to the island this week, which included congressmen and senior officials, to mark the anniversary of the enactment of the Taiwan Relations Act alongside Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen….

“Ours is a friendship grounded in history, shared values, and our common embrace of democracy, free markets, the rule of law, religious freedom and human rights,” Ryan said at a ceremony at AIT’s new office complex in Taipei.

Japan Times | More

April 15, 2019

Paul Ryan says rest of the world should be more like Taiwan

"Taiwan is a democratic success story, a reliable partner and a force for good in the world," Ryan said at a celebration for the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act, which guides U.S. policy toward Taiwan.

While the U.S. does not have formal diplomatic ties with the island, the act requires Washington to ensure that Taiwan can defend itself.

"We want the rest of the world to be more like Taiwan," said Ryan, who led an American delegation to the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto U.S. embassy. He said both parties care deeply about the "critically important relationship" between the U.S. and Taiwan.

Associated Press | More

April 3, 2019

Paul Ryan talks of his future at Forward Janesville event

What’s next for Paul Ryan has been a question on his hometown’s mind since he announced he wouldn’t run for re-election nearly one year ago.

Tuesday night, the longtime Republican congressman told some of his plans to about 700 people attending Forward Janesville’s annual dinner.

Ryan said he is working at 101 S. Main St., the offices of a foundation he is establishing to work on the ideas in two laws he pushed through Congress to address poverty.

Janesville Gazettes | More

March 19, 2019

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan joins board of new Fox Corp.

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan was named Tuesday to the board of the new Fox Corp. as the stock was to begin trading as a standalone public company. The move was the most significant made by the Janesville Republican since he left office in January after the 2018 election as Republicans lost their majority in the House.

Journal Sentinel | More

March 11, 2019

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan focuses on policy, gridlock in Vero Beach lecture

Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan reflected on his tenure in Congress, from health care to political debates, during a lecture Monday in Vero Beach.

Ryan, who served as Speaker of the House from 2015 until January and was the 2012 Republican nominee for vice president, was the final speaker of Riverside Theatre's Distinguished Lecturer Series.

Ryan focused heavily on policy during the hour-long lecture and question-and-answer session, talking about the successes and failures of Congress during his tenure as Speaker.

TCPalm | More

December 19, 2018

House Speaker Paul Ryan Praises Tax Overhaul in Farewell Speech

Throughout his time in the House of Representatives, Mr. Ryan was a champion of small-government conservatism, vowing to reduce taxes, cut spending on social welfare programs and balance the budget. The 2017 tax plan was the largest in decades, bringing corporate tax rates to their lowest levels since 1939 and cutting taxes for many households.

WSJ | More

November 30, 2018

In farewell speech, Speaker Ryan reflects on last 20 years

Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan is nearing the end of his time as House Speaker and on Wednesday, he received an award from the Department of Defense for his public service and for his enduring support for the military.

Journal Times | More

November 28, 2018

Department of Defense honors Speaker Ryan for his military support

Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan is nearing the end of his time as House Speaker and on Wednesday, he received an award from the Department of Defense for his public service and for his enduring support for the military.

CBS 58 | More

November 2, 2018

Vote Republican, keep America prosperous

When House Republicans campaigned in 2016, we made the American people a promise. We said that if voters placed their confidence in us and entrusted us with a mandate to govern, we would lead on the tough issues and improve people’s lives with our ideas.

Washington Examiner | More